Study on wettability improvement and its uniformity of wool fabric treated by atmospheric pressure plasma jet

The influence of processing parameters on wettability improvement and its uniformity of wool fabric treated by atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) was explored. A woven wool fabric was treated by APPJ under various treatment conditions such as different treatment time, different oxygen flow rate, and different jet‐to‐substrate distance. The water absorption time of wool fabric was measured to determine wettability improvement. The diffusion photo of water droplet on wool fabric surface was taken by digital camera to reflect wettability uniformity. After APPJ treatment, SEM observation showed that the scales on the wool fiber surface directly facing plasma jet pores were destroyed than those on the other fiber surface. XPS analysis showed that the carbon concentration substantially decreased. The concentration of oxygen and nitrogen significantly increased and but the concentration of sulfur and silicon did not obviously changed. With the addition of oxygen gas, more polar groups such as hydroxyl and carboxyl produced on wool fiber surface. The water absorption time of wool fabric greatly reduced indicating wettability improvement. The diffusion of water droplet on wool fabric surface was also larger and more homogenous suggesting uniform plasma treatment. It was concluded that the wettability improvement and its uniformity of the treated wool fabric increased and then decreased with the increasing oxygen flow rate and jet‐to‐substrate distance, and increased with the increasing treatment time. Therefore to achieve reasonable wettability and its uniformity of the wool fabric treated by APPJ, plasma treatment conditions have to be carefully chosen. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011