화학공학소재연구정보센터
Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.54, No.9, 2147-2154, 2014
Continuously Extruded Micro-Textured Polypropylene Films
The continuous extrusion of micro-textured isotactic polypropylene (i-PP) film and its tribological properties are reported. As analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, a rectangular-semicircular micro-patterned die successfully produced extruded cast-films with hill-like micro-texture. Such films displayed static and kinetic coefficients of friction (COFs and COFk) values of 0.247 +/- 0.028 and 0.245 +/- 0.003, respectively, for a steel fixture sliding along the micro-texture of the film. The equivalent COFs and COFk values for non-textured (NT) films were 0.369 +/- 0.036 and 0.340 +/- 0.024, respectively, confirming that textured films displayed a reduction in COF of about 30%. For textured and NT films sliding on textured films, the COFk values were even lower at 0.161 +/- 0.013 and 0.113 +/- 0.004, which represents about 20-40% reduction as compared with that for the NT-NT counterparts. Films coated with a silicone lubricant displayed COFs and COFk values of 0.334 +/- 0.042 and 0.099 +/- 0.012, respectively, for NT films sliding over lubricated NT films, and 0.426 +/- 0.031 and 0.063 +/- 0.006, respectively, for textured films sliding over lubricated textured films. The COFk values for textured/non-lubricated films approach those of NT/lubricated films, indicating that micro-textured polypropylene films may be used in environmentally sensitive applications where lubricants and fluorinated additives may not be used for reducing friction. (C) 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers