Plasma Surface Modification of Commercial SBS Rubbers for Enhanced Adhesive Bonding

An attempt to replace a wet chemical surface modification of styrene-butadiene elastomers (SBS), improving their adhesion to polyurethane dispersion adhesives, with a clean low-pressure plasma technique was undertaken. Investigations were performed on commercial SBS rubbers. The plasma was generated by an RF discharge (13.56 MHz, plate electrode reactor) in pure argon (Ar). The rubbers surfaces were investigated by 180°-peel tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The presented results indicate that the plasma treatment is a very promising method of improving the adhesion properties of commercial SBS rubbers elastomers and it should replace the wet chemical methods in industry. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.18.2.1914