• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2007

It has been reported that the surface properties of the plasma treated material were changed while maintaining its bulk properties. In this study, surface modification of nylon fiber by plasma treatment was tried to attain high water-repellency Nylon fiber was treated with RF plasma under a vacuum system using various parameters such as gas specious, processing time and processing power. Morphological changes by low pressure plasma treatment were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Moreover, the mechanical and inherent properties were analyzed by tensile strength, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The high water-repellency property of nylon fiber was evaluated by a water-drop standard test under various conditions in terms of aging effect. The results showed that the water-repellency of plasma-surface-treated nylon fiber was greatly improved compared to untreated nylon fiber.