Abstract
Direct fluorination of poly(ethylene-alt-tetrafluoroethylene) copolymer (ETFE) was carried out on commercially available ETFE films with pure fluorine gas at ambient atmosphere. Reaction temperature was either 95 °C or 150 °C and exposure time was 20 hours. Analysis of the fluorinated samples was performed by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform Infrared, confocal micro-Raman and 1H and 19F magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies, scanning electron microscopy, electron diffraction and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopies, contact angle determination, atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation measurements, and compared to those of the virgin ETFE copolymer. bulk materials was verified by investigating the thermal behavior of the polymers by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Evidence for the formation of a homogeneous layer of polytetrafluoroethylene with a thickness of several microns at the surface of the copolymers with no degradation of the materials was observed