Adhesion Improvement between Polyethylene and Aluminium Using Eco-Friendly Plasma Treatment

Abstract

Lamina made of Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and Aluminium(Al) is used widely in many applications, especially in food packaging (TetraPak containers).However; it's found that the adhesive bond between LDPE-Al is low due to the hydrophobic surface of LDPE.Therefore, there is a strongly need for surface modification of LDPE.Corona disharge which is considered as an atmospheric pressure plasma technique was used in this research to treat LDPE surface by adding polar functional groups (.e.hydroxyl,carbonyl,and carboxyl groups)into the exposed non-polar surface which led to increase surface free energy and then greater wettability and a smaller contact angle, and finally the adhesion between LDPE-Al improved significantly.