Glass And Polymer: Wetting And Adhesion

Results from wetting and adhesion experiments of thermoplastic polymers on glass surfaces without coupling agents are discussed in this paper. An attempt to use the thermodynamic work of adhesion as a measure of adhesion proved to be unsuccessful, as it is difficult to characterize glass according to surface energy. Contact angle measurments of melted polymers on glass surfaces show that the type of silicate glass applied does not influence the contact angle. Wetting is controlled by viscosity of the polymer melt, and the kinetics follows a power law. The fact that non-polar polymers show a low level of adhesion on glass surfaces is based upon results of strength measurements of compounds between glass and polymers.