The Use of Modern Microscopic Techniques in Evaluation of Polyphthalamide and Polybutylene Terephthalate Injection Moulded Parts for Electroless Plating

摘要

In this paper, two industrially utilized polymers are examined with selected microscopic techniques. The morphology of commercially available, high performance polyphtalamide (PPA) composite as well as polybutylene terephtalate (PBT) composite both used as a base material for electroless plating was a subject of the study. The samples used were two-shot moulded interconnecting devices (MIDs). The polymers and their surfaces was studied during different stages of the plating process. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were utilised to reveal the morphological changes of the material during various stages of the chemical treatment and for the untreated specimens. For both materials, large volume additives - such as glass-fibres were observed to be oriented in the injection-flow direction. Smaller size additives, were distributed homogeneously down to the sub-micron level. The plating process resulted in the formation of a thick, porous layer on the PPA polymer surface. The surface of PBT was less affected. A metal layer (copper) formation process on the treated composite surfaces was different for PBT and PPA due to a different method used to introduce the catalyst into the system.