STRUCTURAL, OPTICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF PET POLYMER FILMS MODIFIED BY LOW ENERGY Ar+ ION BEAMS

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films with thickness 40 mu m are irradiated with 3 keV argon ion beams with different fluence ranging from 0.5 x 10(18) ions.cm(-2) to 2 x 10(18) ions.cm(-2) using locally designed broad ion source. The changes in the PET structure are characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques. The XRD patterns show that the peak intensity decreases with irradiation and the particle size decreases from 65.75 angstrom for the un-irradiated to 52.80 angstrom after irradiation. The FTIR indicates partial decrease and reduction in the intensity of the bands due to the degradation of the polymer after ion irradiation. The optical energy band gap decreases from 3.14 eV to 3.05 eV and the number of carbon cluster increases from 119 to 126 after ion irradiation. The results show a slight increase in the electrical conductivities and the dielectric constant (epsilon). The results indicate the effectiveness of using PET films as capacitors and resistors in industrial applications.