Enhanced surface adhesion and LWIR paint effect on the low vacuum radio-frequency argon plasma (LVRFAP) treated composite laminates for aerospace applications

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of low vacuum radio frequency argon plasma treatment on paint coatings of composite materials and derivative materials used in the aviation industry, and to examine the morphological structure of composite materials after plasma application to the surface, especially to determine their suitability for paint adhesion. Therefore, the atomic interactions on plasma treated surfaces are studied through various analysis and test methods such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), scratch test and contact angle measurement. The motivation of this paper is to present the emissivity changes of plasma treated five harness satin weave carbon fiber reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) matrix composite material after the application of long wave infrared (LWIR) paint coating. Intense temperature changes can cause undesirable effects in many materials. Increased temperature can cause expansion of these material. When low vacuum radio-frequency argon plasma (LVRFAP) is applied to the composite laminates, their mechanical properties doesn't change. In also, thermoset and thermoplastic materials used in the study have similar mechanical property. The results of the study show that plasma application to composites is a simple, fast and reliable solution to change the adhesion properties of paint to composite materials and a very useful technology to improve the surface properties. Thermal images photos of LWIR-painted untreated, and LWIR-painted plasma treated sample indicate that their emissivity measurements are close to each other, but in plasma treated samples, emissivity values were decreased to a lower value.