Reactive ion beam - plasma system for processing the poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Knowing the important role of the oriented positive ion bombardment in the plasma techniques, there were carried out some investigations using such a 'model situation', a plasma - beam system. However, there are still many unknowns in the low energy ion beam - polymer interaction, because there is a difficult task to investigate the modifications induced in the uppermost tens Angstroms of the polymer surface, where there is a competition between the penetration and rediffusion processes of the reactive species. Moreover, this uppermost surface layer of the pristine (untreated) polymer is also very nonuniform. The aim of the present work is to emphasize the correlation between the oxygen ion beam energy and dose and the physical and chemical modifications of the poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) produces in a plasma - beam treatment system. (author)