AVS 49th International Symposium
    Plasma Science Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS+TF-WeP

Paper PS+TF-WeP1
Expanding Thermal Plasma Deposition of UV Filters and Abrasion Resistant Coatings

Wednesday, November 6, 2002, 11:00 am, Room Exhibit Hall B2

Session: Plasma Etching & Deposition
Presenter: C.D. Iacovangelo, General Electric Global Research Center
Authors: C.D. Iacovangelo, General Electric Global Research Center
M. Schaepkens, General Electric Global Research Center
Correspondent: Click to Email
Use of plastics in large area applications such as automotive glazing require deposition of abrasion resistant and inorganic UV filter coatings for protection. These coatings must be hydrolytically stable and weather able. We have developed expanding thermal plasma (ETP) deposition processes for high rate, large area deposition of ZnO and doped-ZnO UV filters and organo-silicon based inter-layers and abrasion resistant layers on polycarbonate (PC) substrates. This paper will describe the ETP processes used to deposit these materials and the effect of processing parameters on the deposition rate, UV absorbency, hydrolytic stability and weather ability of these materials and multi-layer packages. ZnO was deposited from diethylzinc, dimethlyzinc, and by thermal evaporation of metallic Zn into the ETP Ar/Ox jet. Abrasion resistant coatings and inter-layers were formed from TMDSO, HMDSO, and D4. Using these processes, highly stable, weather able coatings at deposition rates of 20 microns/minute on PC substrates were obtained. Processing parameters, degree of doping, and precursor selection were critical to achieving ZnO with high UV absorbency and hydrolytic stability. ZnO coatings of 0.5 microns thick provided UV absorbency at 350 nm of 4.0. ZnO coatings from metallic zinc were crystalline and resulted in superior stability to deposits from either diethyl or dimethylzinc. Highly abrasion resistant coatings, Taber abrasion of 2 at 1000 cycles, were obtained with all of the organo-silicone materials examined, however, UV absorbency of the coatings limit the practical application of all but D4. Equivalent 10-year life of multi-layer packages has been demonstrated in accelerated weathering tests.