Atmospheric pressure plasma surface treatment of rayon flock synthetic leather with tetramethylsilane

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) treatment for improving the surface hydrophobicity of rayon flock synthetic leatherwith organosilane precursor (tetramethylsilane (TMS)). Plasma deposition of TMS is regarded as an effective, simple, and low-pollution process. The results show that a highly hydrophobic surface is formulated on the rayon flock synthetic leather. Under a particular combination of treatment parameters, a hydrophobic surface was achieved on the APP-treated sample with a contact angle of 135° while the untreated sample had a contact angle of 0° (i.e., the fabric surface was completely drenched immediately). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the deposition of organosilane.