CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF LASER-MODIFIED POLYMERS

Pulsed UV laser irradiation alters the physical and chemical properties of polymer surfaces.1,2 These property changes have a dominant effect on the production of texture in laser-etched polymers. The chemical and physical nature of the laser-modified surface of Polyethylene terephthalate) (PET) has been studied by infrared spectroscopy in the work reported here. These studies show that chemical and physical modification occurs in distinctly different power regions. When the infrared absorption intensities of the laser-modified PET are monitored as a function of depth in the polymer, the depth profile of the physical and chemical changes has also been measured. These measurements will be related to excimer laser texturing of semicrystalline polymers. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.