Femtosecond-pulsed laser and atmospheric pressure plasma jet pre-treatment for media resistant adhesive bonds on nickel

The Journal of Adhesion, vol. 102, pp. 1136–1161

Abstract

Efforts to reduce weight and material cost in chemical and electro-chemical application drive the substitution of solid nickel sheets by foil material. However, using nickel foil requires new surface pre-treatment processes that produce an adhesive bond stable in aqueous media. This work investigates the effects of two surface types produced by femtosecond laser: laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) and redeposited nanoparticle structures (RNPS), as well as atmospheric pressure plasma jet pre-treatment (APPJ), by itself and subsequent to the laser structuring, on adhesion and aging resistance to aqueous media. The surfaces are analyzed regarding wettability; adhesion is evaluated in peel tests initially and after aging in aqueous media. To better understand the effect of the surface structures, the samples are studied by SEM and STEM. Furthermore, the surface composition is probed by XPS, TOF-SIMS and STEM. While RNPS provides the best initial adhesion, LIPSS samples showed the best aging performance in the tested media. The wettability and stability of the surface depend on the surface structure and surface chemistry. The combination of laser and APPJ pre-treatment did lower the initial peel strength significantly and did not change aging behavior.

Authors 6

1. Christoph Jürgen Anton Beier corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University

2. Kristof Marcoen

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

3. Kitty Baert

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

4. Tom Hauffman

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

5. Iris De Graeve

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

6. Alexander Schiebahn Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University