Morphology, Order, Light Transmittance, and Water Vapor Permeability of Aluminum-Coated Polypropylene Zeolite Composite Films

Abstract

In this study, the polypropylene-zeolite composite films having 2-6 wt % natural zeolite were coated with a thin film of aluminum (Al) by magnetron sputtering, and the contribution of the Al coating on film properties was investigated. The samples were characterized by EDX, X-ray diffraction, SEM, AFM, UV-visible spectroscopy, and water vapor permeation analyses. The surface of the films coated with a smooth Al film having 98-131 nm thickness. EDX revealed that Al percentage on the surface appeared to be as 8-10 wt % indicating contribution of polymer surface under Al film to analysis. XRD analysis showed that the grain size of Al at the surface was 22-29 nm. The surface roughness increased after Al-coating process. The transmission of coated films was very low for both UV and visible regions of the light spectrum. Permeation analysis indicated that water vapor permeation was lower for Al-coated material.