Surface treatment of polyetheretherketone /PEEK/ - composites by plasmaactivation and plasmapolymerization

Composites with polyaryletheretherketone (PEEK) are an interesting engineering material due to their excellent thermal and mechanical behaviour, but joining by adhesive bonding is difficult. According to the chemical stability of PEEK only poor adhesion is obtained without a surface treatment. Therefore various treatments have been performed in a low temperature plasma process. 02-plasma surface activation as well as the deposition of thin adhesive coatings has been tested as pretreatment process before the epoxy adhesive was applicated. For the characterization of the plasma treatments ESCA and FTIR have been involved.