Plasma treatment for multifunctional

textiles
PhD.eng.Visileanu Emilia
PhD.eng Ene Alexandra
PhD.eng Mihai Carmen
The Research and Development Institut for Textile and Leather
Bucharest - Romania

Finishing technologies
Used to obtain products with high performance
characteristics in order to increase :
- proofing,
- hydrophilization,
- water repellency,
- fire retardancy,
- UV and bacteria resistance.
Require the use of large amounts of:
- chemicals,
- water and
- energy.

Polluting industries
The effect on the environment makes
the textile industry one of the most
polluting industries !

Change structure and properties

Physical using different:
- energy sources such as plasma, laser, electromagnetic radiation,
microwaves, etc.;

Chemical using different:

- chemicals that can change the surface or inner layers of the fibre;
- films: flame retardant,
electrostatic charge protection ,
microorganism protective ;
- metal deposition.

Plasma treatment
Plasma treatment is an innovative alternative
solution for the change of functional properties of
textiles;
Material surface is modified microscopically by :
- environmentally-friendly and
- cost effective dry coating;
This operation is possible without :
- auxiliary mechanical processes or
- chemicals .

Plasma

The term plasma, was used for the first time by Irving Langmuir

Relation with biological

environment;

It refers to electrically
conductive ionized gas.
Plasma state of a gas - also
considered as the fourth
state of matter

Plasma enviroment
Plasma environments are electrically quasineutral physical systems consisting
of:

electrons, ions, photons of ultraviolet radiation, free radicals, neutral

molecules
Obtained by:
Plasma composition
Functionalisation/grafting

the action of high temperatures,

Energy
Radicals

Process
gas

Electrons

strong magnetic fields or

electric discharge in gases.

Direct or alternative current can

be used .

Ions
Electronic excited particles
UV-radiation
Polymerisation

Etching
Energy

Process
gas

Energy

Process gas

Cold plasma
Cold plasma- low temperature (below 150oC) is used for :
- the treatment of textile materials and fibres without :
- thermal degradation;

Low pressure cold plasma treatment technology - vacuum

plasma technology ;
Low pressure plasma
technology has some advantages
over the atmospheric pressure
plasma :
- controllable and
- reproductible.
These environments have
low, medium or total ionization

Plasma principle
The principle of plasma treatment consists of :
- putting into contact the textile material with this very reactive environment.
Installations apply treatments on :
- fibres,
- semi-finished products (sliver, roving),
- yarns or
- flat surfaces (woven, knitted fabrics,
nonwoven textiles).
The following treatment can be produced
at the surface of textile materials:
superficial changes in the surface (cracks,
roughness, micro-craters);
obtaining radicals for the fibre grafting.

Fibre grafting

Action of the reactive groups :

Caracteristics
The elements of the coating have to be:
- firmly attached to the surface and
- the layer has to have a definite degree of
freedom .
This ultrathin grafted is :
-first monolayer of coating,
which is in contact with the
surface and :
-will be a guide for further
coating treatmet organization.

Posible effects

Plasma treatments may result in changes in :

the surface morphology (with effects on roughness),
mass per unit area of surface and mass per unit length,
some physical-mechanical properties (length density, break load, break
elongation, etc),
self-adherence, absorption properties and
improved comfort properties as well as improved electrical properties.

Potential applications of plasma treatment can be used in:

- conventional textile products as well as in technical articles (grafting of
hydrophilic polymers) and
- composites, waterproof articles (grafting of fluorinated polymers),
- fireproof articles (e.g. polyphosphonate grafting) ,
high conductivity articles (grafting of organic metal-containing molecules),
antimicrobial, UV protection and so on .
-

Installation CD 400 Roll-to-roll

The loading system is formed of:

sets of trays for the treatment of fibres, semi-finished
products (slivers, rovings), yarns;
a complete roll winding system for flat materials: woven ,
knitted, nonwoven fabrics or foils.
Components:
Air tight chamber
(plasma environment);
High frequency power
generator;
Vacuum pumps;
Gas cylinders;
Electrodes;
Sample holders, etc.

Actions
In the airtight chamber vacuum is
generated by vacuum pumps operating
at a pressure in the range 10-2 to 10-3
mbar.
Gas taken from the cylinder is:
- placed in the chamber and is
- ionized by a high
frequency generator.

Features
A specific feature of the plasma is the
visible luminescent discharge ;
The colours ranging are:
- from blue-white to dark purple and are:
- depending on the type of gas used in the
plasma installation;
Highly reactive particles
react with the textile
material surface.

Industrial instalation
For vacuum plasma treatment of fabrics with the width of
more than 0.6 m, :
- special vacuum chambers with :
- winding rollers with :
- a diameter greater
than 0.3 m.
Such chambers have
normally three sections:
- a wind,
- a rewind and
- a plasma treatment
section which are differentially supplied with plasma.

Tension control
All special plasma treatment installations type "Roll-to-roll"
use tension control of the textile material.

 Table no.1 presents the gases used in the installation

and the plasma effects on the textile surfaces.

Gas used in the plasma installation

The effect of plasma on textile surfaces

Argon

Increase of surface rugosity

Oxygen

Surface cleaning, bleaching, change,

hydrophilicity

Fluorocarbons

Polymerization,
waterproofing, hydrophobization

Ammonia, carbon dioxide

Modification of the surface chemical groups

Interaction with surfaces (table 3)

Reaction type

Name

Reaction

Neutral

Absorption

A + (s) A(s)

Desorption

A(s) A + (s)

Dissociative adsorption

AB + (s) A(s) + B(s)

Dissociative desorption

A(s) + B(s) AB + (s)

Surface reaction

A + B(s) AB(s)

Surface reaction

A(s) + B(s) AB(s) + (s)

Electron emission

Am + (s) A(s) + e

Neutralization

A+ + e(s) A + (s)

Sputtering

A+ + e + B(b) A + B

Assisted desorption

A+ + e + B(s) A + B + (s)

Extended erosion

A+ + e + B(s) + C(b) A + BC + (s)

Incorporation

A+ + e A(b)

Electron emission

A+ + (s) A(s) + e

Ionic

The following notations are used:

-e electron,
-(s) location of an open surface,
-A(s) a surface-related particle category,
-B(b) a category of particles B in the whole mass and
-Am is a metastable state with long lifetime

Table no. 4 Elements of comparison between classical finishing

treatments of textile materials and treatments in plasma

environment
No.

Elements of comparison

Treatment in
plasma environment

Classical treatment

Solvent

Treatment in gas phase

Water, chemical reactive

agents

2.

Energy

Electrical, low quantity

Thermal

3.

Type of reaction

Complex, simultaneous phenomena

Very simple

4.

Reaction localization

Fibre superficial layer, without

modifying polymer mass

Treatment in all the mass

of the textile polymer

5.

New treatment
possibilities

Developing potential

Slow evolution

6.

Water and energy

consumption

Low

High

7.

Environment pollution

Low

High

Free surface energy

Plasma treatments induce :
- changes (increases) of free surface
energy of the polymers ;
- this resist - 200 hours
since the application of the
plasma treatment and :
- lead to higher values compared with
the untreated samples.

Wool knitted fabric

Research work used a wool knitted fabric, without special
pretreatment.

Plasma treatment was performed in a plasma chamber of 1m3,

using O2 plasma generated by a plasma generator with frequency
of 40kHz, a power of 2000 to 3500 watt. Treatment times
varied from 1 to 7 minutes.

Effects
The most important effects observed during the
research were:
improved absorption of liquid by a factor of 100
to 1000;
no significant change was observed in the
mechanical properties of individual fibers;
change in the mechanical properties of the yarns:
- an increase yarn tenacity up to 50%;
- an increase in the elongation at break of the yarn
up to 250%;
increase of the surface
hydrophilicity by high capillarity.

Antifelting property and resistance to shrinkage during

washing.
- antifelting property and resistance to shrinkage during washing.
Initial contraction of the fabric surface of 57% can be reduced to
below 10% after plasma treatment, giving the treated material a
super-wash property.

- antifelting treatment is less destructiv than the treatment

with chemical reagents.
Plasma antifelting treatment

Antifelting treatment with chemical

reagents

10
m

10
m

Healthcare application

Polyester

Types of raw
materials

Cotton

The process for obtaining the anti-microbial

products diagram:

ANTI- MICROBIAL TESTS

ANTI- MICROBIAL TESTS

Other advantages

Lower energy consumption;

Ease of adapting the process to industrial use;
Reduction of water use (dry treatment processes remove
rinse-spin-drying);
Elimination of toxic substances.