Investigation of treated PEN foil surface properties for inkjet application

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report surface properties of treated Teonex Du Pont polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) foil substrates.

Design/methodology/approach

There were three different cleaning treatments among other: argon glow discharge, dipping into alkaline solution at 60°C as well as washing in an ultrasonic bath of acetone and ethyl alcohol in room temperature. The relation between PEN foil morphology and surface properties has been studied by contact angle measurements as well as evaluation of surface roughness of PEN foil samples by atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Findings

It was found that argon glow discharge (T3) of PEN treatment caused the maximum reduction in both values of contact angles. In addition, the argon glow discharge yielded the highest PEN surface energy (51.9 mJ/m2) and polarity (0.89). On the other hand, the AFM micrographs showed that the samples T3 had the highest value of average and root mean square surface roughness. Based on the experiments results, the authors stated that the alkaline cleaning (T2 treatment) could be considered as an effective method of PEN substrate treatment.

Originality/value

The influence of different cleaning treatment on the surface properties of PEN foil to inkjet application was analyzed. In the literature, there are not a lot of papers describing examinations of surface properties of PEN foil to inkjet application by contact angle measurements and AFM analysis.

Citation

Araźna, A., Futera, K., Jakubowska, M. and Dybowska-Sarapuk, Ł. (2015), "Investigation of treated PEN foil surface properties for inkjet application", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 108-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSMT-03-2015-0007