Effect of flame treatment on formulated polyvinylchloride surface: A study using ARXPS

Industrial PVC samples have been flame treated in order to improve their surface properties for adhesion. Using a novel procedure to avoid X-ray damage, as-received and treated PVC were analysed by angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) to assess the effect of the flame treatment. An increase of wettability was obtained and tested using dyne inks showing that the flame treatment has an effect on the surface. In terms of chemistry, it was found that a reduction of the covalent chlorine to chloride is observed while a decrease of carbon and increase of oxygen concentrations are the other main effects. ARXPS shows that the chloride species appear to segregate to deeper layers than the immediate surface intimating that the difference in wettability may have been obtained by eliminating already pre-existent surface contamination.