Influence of gaseous plasma treatment on functional properties of coated papers

Three different types of paper with different coatings have been used in order to study the influence of gaseous plasma treatment on surface properties of paper. Radio frequency (RF) oxygen plasma was used for treatment of papers that contain different parts of organic and inorganic components in their coatings. Surface properties like surface morphology, roughness, surface energy, wettability, and chemistry were studied. The influence of plasma modification was also studied in terms of printability and paper gloss, which are one of the key parameters that dictate the use of such paper in desired applications. The results indicate that plasma modification of different types of coatings indeed influences paper printability as well as gloss function, which was shown to be highly connected with surface morphology, as micro- and nanopores were opened or formed due to selective plasma etching of organic part of the coating. Moreover, significant increase in surface energy was observed on all plasma treated papers, however this seemed not to influence much on the printing and gloss properties.