Plasma Treatment of Large-Area Polymer Substrates for the Enhanced Adhesion of UV–Digital Printing

FLEISCHER, Michal, Zlata KELAR TUČEKOVÁ, Oleksandr GALMIZ, Eva BAŤKOVÁ, Tomáš PLŠEK, Tatiana KOLÁŘOVÁ, Dušan KOVÁČIK and Jakub KELAR. Plasma Treatment of Large-Area Polymer Substrates for the Enhanced Adhesion of UV–Digital Printing. Nanomaterials. MDPI, 2024, vol. 14, No 5, p. 1-14. ISSN 2079-4991. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano14050426.

Basic information

• Original name: Plasma Treatment of Large-Area Polymer Substrates for the Enhanced Adhesion of UV–Digital Printing
• Authors: FLEISCHER, Michal (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Zlata KELAR TUČEKOVÁ (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Oleksandr GALMIZ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Eva BAŤKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Tomáš PLŠEK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Tatiana KOLÁŘOVÁ (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Dušan KOVÁČIK (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution) and Jakub KELAR (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Nanomaterials, MDPI, 2024, 2079-4991.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 10305 Fluids and plasma physics
• Country of publisher: Switzerland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 5.300 in 2022
• Organization unit: Faculty of Science
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano14050426
• UT WoS: 001183136200001
• Keywords in English: UV–digital printing; transparent polymers; low-temperature plasma; surface functionalization; ink adhesion
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

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.

Links

• FV40114, research and development project: Name: Zvýšení kvality velkoplošného UV digitálního tisku atmosférickým plazmatem

Investor: Ministry of Industry and Trade of the CR

• 90110, large research infrastructures: Name: CzechNanoLab