Thermal Treatment And Corona Treatment Of PE Foam Used On Tape

Polyethylene (PE) foam has lots of advantages, such as cheap; light; wear resistant; chemical resistant; insulating property; impact energy absorption. Thus, PE foam becomes one of the main substrate materials used in tape industry. However, more research is needed for the effect of post treatment on the properties of PE foam. Furthermore, the corona treatment on the PE foam surface is also a problem for industry. For example, PE with low density will be damaged by corona that the treatment is not perfect. The efficiency of corona treatment is also affected by the environment. The uniformity of corona treatment is not easy to control.Herein, a simple thermal post treatment was applied for PE foam. The results showed that the thermal treatment processing had a great impact on the properties of PE foam. The density and tensile strength as well as the compress properties of PE foam increased after thermal treatment at 100 degree.Thermal treatment of PE foam would also cause some changes on the surface. The surface of PE foam was observed to be smooth and at the same time the density increased after thermal treatment. All of these changes would influence the effect of the following corona treatment. After thermal treatment, PE foam with low density would tolerate relatively higher corona energy. Compared with the materials before thermal treatment, the effectiveness of corona effect (Time & Temperature) increased. Based on the results, it is reasonable to conclude that the thermal treatment is benefit to PE foam, enable it a promising material applied in tape industry.