Printability Comparison of Several Types of LDPE Treated by Plasma and Corona

The adhesion is defined as attraction between the ink and substrate. For good wetting characteristics and consequently achieve acceptable adhesion between the polymer surface and ink, the surface energy of polymeric substrates, is one of the critical parameters and Surface energy of the substrate should be higher than the surface tension of the ink. Despite the sound features of low density polyethylene polymers which make it suited for used in the many industries like packaging, low surface energy of this polymer caused problems with printing on this polymer. Thus, many methods are utilized to improve the printability of this polymer. The objective of this study is in investigating the printability of low density polyethylene after using two methods of treatment; plasma and corona behalf. Contact angle, adhesion tape tests, AFM, SEM was used to determine the quality of provision. Results indicated a better performance of plasma treatment in comparison with corona, both in terms of initial adhesion and durability of this adhesion.