Polymers

ATFI has developed special thermal curing procedures and pretreatments for deposition of barrier films on plastic or polymer substrates without any thermal degradation. Cerablak® UTF can provide many benefits including UV-stable barrier properties, improved moisture and gas barrier properties, scratch/abrasion resistance, and protect substrates from corrosion by organic media. The figure above shows Cerablak® a) coated, and b) uncoated polycarbonate after exposure to methylethylketone (MEK) solvent. Uncoated polycarbonate shows severe degradation (the white opaque spots), while Cerablak®-coated polycarbonate has very little degradation.

Demonstrations:

Polymers are susceptible to scratching due to their low surface hardness. When a thin glassy Cerablak® coating is deposited onto the polymer, a significant improvement in hardness can be achieved. ATFI has demonstrated improved scratch resistance through pencil hardness testing on polycarbonate (HB to 3H) and PEN (3H to 9H) on untreated and Cerablak® UTF-coated materials, respectively. In addition, many polymers including polycarbonate are susceptible to degradation from a variety of aggressive materials. The inorganic and inert nature of Cerablak® films enables coated polymers to be resistant to degradation from most chemicals including acids, bases, petroleum products, and organic solvents. Untreated polycarbonate plastic, for example, is severely attacked when exposed to an organic solvent (methylethylketone – MEK). It turns opaque white, while the Cerablak® UTF-coated polycarbonate plastic remains largely unchanged and transparent. Improvement in the moisture and gas barrier performance of polymers is another excellent example of the benefit that Cerablak® coatings can provide. Most polymers have very high permeability to water vapor, oxygen, or other gasses. After coating with a submicron layer of Cerablak®, these same materials have shown several orders of magnitude reduction in gas/vapor transmission rates.