The Effect of Plasma Treatment on Microstructure, Roughness and Curing of Rubber Blend

In this paper, the effect of low-temperature atmospheric plasma on the surface of an elastomeric composite system, specifically uncured rubber, is considered. The effect of exposure time (2 s and 4 s), distance (0.5 mm) of atmospheric plasma was examined. Scanning electron microscopy was used to assess the structure and qualitatively chemical composition on the surface. It was revealed that atmospheric plasma based on a diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge produces an oxidation of the rubber surface. Moreover, plasma treatment affects the surface topography and increases the roughness studied by atomic force microscopy already at 2 s exposure. However, the analogy of both exposure times does not significantly affect the selected specific properties. In terms of the processing properties of rubber and plasma treatment, the optimum cure time, scorch time, and torque values were evaluated using a rubber processing analyser. In this case, plasma treatment produced accelerated curing time compared to the reference rubber.