Issue 107, 2015

Development of a novel protocol for the permanent hydrophilic modification of a BOPP film for high quality printing with water-based ink

Abstract

This paper reports the successful modification of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films to permanently enhance their hydrophilic properties for potential flexible packing applications. This protocol consists of three sequential processes: (1) an on-line dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma pretreatment, (2) a polyvinyl alcohol/silk fibroin/polyethylene glycol (PVA/SF/PEG) coating, and (3) ethanol solution finishing. The optimal modification conditions included: DBD plasma pretreatment for 10 seconds, coating with aqueous PVA/SF/PEG (3%/3%/1%) solution, and finally, 8 minutes of treatment with 60% ethanol solution. The fully modified BOPP films exhibited approximately a 16° static contact angle (SCA), a near zero haze value, and an effectively 100% transmittance value under visible light (400–700 nm). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the surface morphology of the modified BOPP films showed that the surface roughness increased from 3.79 nm (untreated) to 21.10 nm (fully treated). The Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) results showed that polar functional C[double bond, length as m-dash]O groups were grafted onto the BOPP film that was pretreated with the DBD plasma. Further modification of the pretreated BOPP film with the PVA/SF/PEG coating significantly enhanced the density of the C–O and N–H groups. The gravure printing images indicated that the adhesive property of the BOPP film for water-based ink improved substantially after the hydrophilic modifications.

Graphical abstract: Development of a novel protocol for the permanent hydrophilic modification of a BOPP film for high quality printing with water-based ink

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Jul 2015
Accepted
12 Oct 2015
First published
12 Oct 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 87963-87970

Author version available

Development of a novel protocol for the permanent hydrophilic modification of a BOPP film for high quality printing with water-based ink

W. X. Chen, J. S. Yu, G. L. Chen, X. P. Qiu, W. Hu, H. Y. Bai and J. Z. Shao, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 87963 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA13020D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements