Comprehensive study of polymer fiber surface modifications Part 1 : High-fluence UV-excimer-laser-induced structures

Recently, there has been great interest in physico-chemical surface treatments for modifying polymer surfaces. Utraviolet (UV)-excimer-laser irradiation of polymers is of particular interest. In this study, polyamide was irradiated by a 193 nm excimer with a fluence above its ablation threshold (high-fluence). Morphological changes of the resulting samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM). Chemical modifications by laser treatment were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and chemical force microscopy (CFM). Topographical results indicated that 'ripple-like' structures of micrometer size were formed after laser irradiation. XPS and Tof-SIMS results showed that bond scission occurred on the polymer surface under the action of high-fluence. Changes in surface chemical properties of the laser-irradiated polyamide were supported by CFM experiments.Institute of Textiles and ClothingDepartment of Applied Physic