Formation of super-hydrophobic and water-repellency surface with hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) coating on polyethyleneteraphtalate fiber by atmosperic pressure plasma polymerization

Abstract It has been reported that plasma treatments are to modify surface properties of polymers such as adhesivity, hydrophliicity and hydrophobicity. The plasma interaction with the surface produces modification of its chemical structure and morphology. In this study, surface modification of polyester fiber with high water-repellency and super-hydrophobic was carried out plasma polymerization coating. Polyester fiber with water-repellency was treated with atmospheric pressure middle frequency (MF) and radio frequency (RF) plasma system using Ar and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO). The Ar gas has been used as carrier gas. The plasma coated PET fiber of HMDSO with water-repellency of 90 rating showed higher water-repellency than untreated PET fiber with water-repellency of 0 rating. The surface morphologies of plasma treated fiber were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry analyzed the chemical composition of the polymer surface.