Plasma Treatment of Large-Area Polymer Substrates for the Enhanced Adhesion of UV–Digital Printing
Michal Fleischer,
Zlata Kelar Tučeková,
Oleksandr Galmiz,
Eva Baťková,
Tomáš Plšek,
Tatiana Kolářová,
Dušan Kováčik,
Jakub Kelar
Affiliations
Michal Fleischer
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Zlata Kelar Tučeková
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Oleksandr Galmiz
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Eva Baťková
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Tomáš Plšek
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Tatiana Kolářová
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Dušan Kováčik
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Jakub Kelar
Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, CEPLANT—R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
UV–digital printing belongs to the commonly used method for custom large-area substrate decoration. Despite low surface energy and adhesion, transparent polymer materials, such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC), represent an ideal substrate for such purposes. The diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge (DCSBD) in a novel compact configuration was used for substrate activation to improve ink adhesion to the polymer surface. This industrially applicable version of DCSBD was prepared, tested, and successfully implemented for the UV–digital printing process. Furthermore, wettability and surface free energy measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force, and scanning electron microscopy evaluated the surface chemistry and morphology changes. The changes in the adhesion of the surface and of ink were analyzed by a peel-force and a crosscut test, respectively. A short plasma treatment (1–5 s) enhanced the substrate’s properties of PMMA and PC while providing the pre-treatment suitable for further in-line UV–digital printing. Furthermore, we did not observe damage of or significant change in roughness affecting the substrate’s initial transparency.
