Switchable hydrophobic-hydrophilic layer obtained onto porous alumina by plasma-enhanced fluorination
Résumé
Conventional lithographic printing processes using porous alumina for offset applications generally use “wet” routes. Recently “dry” processes have been developed which are based on a heat-induced hydrophilic/oleophilic conversion of one or more layers of the coating so that a stronger affinity to-wards ink or water fountain is created at the exposed areas with respect to the surface of the unex-posed coating. Treatments involving rf plasma-enhanced fluorination (PEF) constitute exceptional tools for modifying the surface properties of materials. Many advantages of these techniques can be indeed outlined, when compared to more conventional methods: room-temperature reactions, chemical modi-fications limited to surface only without changing the bulk properties, possible non-equilibrium reac-tions. The influence of PEF treatments on porous alumina layer used in printing plates has been tested with various fluorinated gases (CF4, C3F8 and C4F8) and characterized by XPS. The hydrophobic prop-erties of the fluorinated layer have been deduced from contact angle measurements. Using C4F8 rf-PEF treatment, the outmost surface of the hydrophilic alumina substrate used for lithographic printing is hydrophobized, or in other words, the hydrophilic substrate is converted into a support with hydro-phobic properties. Once being hydrophobized, the surface layer may be rendered hydrophilic using a heat pulse, thus giving rise to switchable hydrophobic-hydrophilic properties of the material.