Deposition of thin coatings on polyethylene films under conditions of pulsed dielectric harrier discharges (PDBD)

A lab. reactor was developed for thin coating deposition on packaging films at ambient pressure and temp. The O-2-barrier properties of 19-20 mu m PE films were enhanced with Si oxide coatings deposited, (i) 30 and (H) 42 nm/min, from (i) tetraethoxy- (TMOS) and tetraethoxy-silane (TEOS) under PDBD in Ar or Ar-(5 or 10 vol%)O-2 plasma generated at frequencies of 300, 400, 500 or 600 Hz. The original and the coated PE were examd, by XPS, FTIR and AFM. The max. redn. of O-2 permeability showed the containing deposited from TMOS in Ar-5% O-2 at 600 Hz (from 6 x 10(-9) to 1.2 x 10(-9) cm(3) O-2/cm(2) x s x cm Hg). The coatings deposited in pure Ar from TEOS were superior to those from TMOS. The uncoated PE, preactivated 22 s in pure Ar at 600 Hz, permeated 40% less O-2. The OISI ratios detd. in top and in deeper layers of the coats were >= 2 and approximate to 1, resp.