The effects of excimer laser irradiation at 248 nm on the surface mass loss and thermal properties of PS, ABS, PA6, and PC polymers

Excimer laser irradiation provides a new and important method for polymer surface treatment. In this work, the weight loss of engineering polymers PC, ABS, PS, and nylon 6 were investigated following irradiation by KrF excimer laser. The experimental results revealed that the polymeric weight loss is nonlinearly related to the laser energy and laser frequency for most of the materials tested. The effects of laser irradiation on the thermal properties (Tg or Tm) of the polymers were investigated using DSC. It was found that the Tg and Tm of these materials decreased as a result of laser treatment, indicating the degradation effect of the laser irradiation procedure