Degradation of PET, PEEK and PI induced by irradiation with 150Â keV Ar+ and 1.76Â MeV He+ ions

In this work, PET was implanted with 150 keV Ar+ ions to the fluences of 1012-1015 ions/cm2, PET, PEEK and PI with 1.76 MeV 4He+ ions to the fluences 1013-1014 ions/cm2. Structural and compositional alterations of the implanted polymers were studied using Rutherford back-scattering (RBS), elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA), ultra-violet and visible light spectroscopy (UV-VIS) and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). The formation of a new bonds in modified polymer films are detected in proportion to the used ion dose using UV-VIS spectroscopy. For Ar+ ions and higher fluences a decline in hydrogen and oxygen content is observed.