Studying electron-beam-irradiated PET surface wetting and free energy

In this article, a comparative study has been made to evaluate the adhesion properties of poly (ethylene terephthalate) film irradiated with electron beam. The wetting behavior of the treated polymer surface is studied by employing the contact angle method and the surface free energy analysis. The contact angle is found to be dependable on the surface layer properties which in turn affected by the radiation dose and the measuring liquid polarity. Also, three different methods are used to calculate work of adhesion and surface free energy of that film. The comparison between these methods shows differences which are mainly due to the intermolecular interaction in the liquid/polymer system. The assessment of the surface free energy permits to control a large number of physicochemical properties of polymer surface and its reactivity.