Abstract
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) has been etched by sputtering in the presence of argon gas and the resulting surface modifications investigated via weight loss, time of water permeation, half value period, scanning electron microscope(SEM) and color difference measurements. According to increasing sputter etching time, weight loss increased, the time of water permeation and half value period of the sputter etched PET fabrics decreased. Color depth of fabrics increased by increasing sputter etching time. We investigated the fabric surface modification by SEM. Many microcraters on the fabric surface formed by the sputter etching resulted in increase of surface area of the fabric and wettability.