THE EFFECTS OF ION-BEAM INTERACTION IN POLYMERS

Ion bombardment of polymers produces drastic changes in their structure and stoichiometric modification through disruption and rearrangement of the original chemical bonding. Cross-linking, chain scission, gas evolution, sputtering and/or eventual carbonization are the major phenomena that follow the impact of charged particle interaction in polymers. These modifications result in changes of mechanical, optical and electrical properties of polymers. The extent of these changes are strong functions of ion dose and energy and depends on the ion-beam power and the characteristics of the implanted species.