AFM Studies of Corona Treated Biaxially Oriented PET Film

Presented by Edwin C. Culbertson, Mitsubishi Polyester Film

A sixteen run designed experiment was performed on biaxially oriented PET film with line speed and corona treater power setting as variables. The corona treater gap was held constant. Using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), surface topography and compositional variations were measured on eac sample of treated film. Surface roughness values, Ra, were determined from the AFM images. The surface energy of each sample was obtained from contact angle data immediately after production. Each sample was also aged at 50 degrees C for one week and then imaged with AFM again to determine any changes in roughness or composition. The film was washed with deionized water to remove any water soluble low molecular weight material formed in the corona treatment. The material was analyzed with mass spectroscopy and nuclear resonance spectroscopy in an effort to identify the material(s). Comparisons will be made between these results and out prior results of corona treatment of uniaxially oriented PET film.