Enhancement of paint adhesion of stainless steel treated by argon microwave plasma jet
Abstract
Paint adhesion is an important factor for corrosion protection of materials aside from aesthetic purposes. In this study, stainless steel samples were treated with a microwave-induced argon plasma jet. The effect of different aging time and wettability to the paintability of the samples was studied using tape test method. Based from the results, one day aging time was required before a plasma treated surface must be painted to ensure better adhesion of the paint to the sample. Moreover, adhesion of the enamel paint to stainless steel was enhanced after plasma treatment. For an optimum contact angle of 15.95o, approximately 98% of the paint remained on the plasma treated sample, which was significantly higher compared to only 10% of the paint which remained on the untreated sample (70.73o).