2010-Plasma-induced Graft Polymerization of Hydrophobic Monomers on Nonwoven Substrates for Fuel Filtration Applications

Plasma-induced Graft Polymerization of Hydrophobic Monomers on Nonwoven Substrates for Fuel Filtration Applications

Ahmed El-Shafei, North Carolina State University


Introduction

High-performance fuel filtration nonwoven substrates were developed via vapor deposition of 2-(perfluorohexyl)ethyl methacrylate on nonwoven PET followed by induced graft polymerization using high density atmospheric plasma.
Different nanolayer thicknesses (80-180nm) of the grafted polymer were furnished to generate surfaces with different wettabilities for water/fuel filtration of different fuel compositions. The effect of different plasma conditions and device parameters including the flow rate of monomers, flow rate of helium, power of the device, time of plasma exposure and the gap between the radio frequency and ground electrodes on the separation of different fuels was studied and characterized by measuring the surface energy of the treated substrates. The surface chemistry and morphology of the treated samples were characterized using ATR/FT-IR, XPS, SEM, and TEM, and will be presented.