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Abstract

Polymeric materials are successfully used in virtually all industries ranging from semiconductors, and coatings, to household appliances, automotive, and biomedical implants. Polymers generally have excellent bulk physical and chemical properties. However, certain properties of polymers such as low surface energy, low wettability, and high electrical resistivity sometimes limit their applications. Changing the bulk formulation of the polymers can alter some of these properties, but in general this is not acceptable as it can affect "desirable" bulk properties. Surface modification techniques have been used to alter polymer surfaces without affecting the bulk properties of the material. Most polymers have very high surface and bulk resistivity, which causes static charge problems in many applications. One such application is powder coating where the accumulation of excess charge causes an adverse impact on the appearance of the powder layer. Similarly the buildup of static charge during processing and application of polymer films in packaging industries is often harmful to sensitive electronic components such as those used in the computer industry. Charge buildup may be reduced by surface modification to control the surface resistivity. In this work, atmospheric plasma treatment was used to modify the surface resistivity of polymers. The surface resistivity of polyethylene film decreased from 1.28x1O16 Q/D to 5.73x1O15 Q/U at 18% RH.

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