Comparison of Structures and Properties between Wool and Ramie Fibers Treated by Atmospheric Pressure Ar and Ar/O2 Plasma

The technique of atmospheric pressure plasma is of value in textile industry. In this paper, argon (Ar) and argon/oxygen (Ar/O2) atmospheric pressure plasma were used to treat wool and ramie fibers. The structures and properties of treated fibers were investigated by means of SEM, XPS, single fiber tensile tester and so on.The results proved that the effects of plasma treatments depended on structural characteristics of fibers to a great extent, besides conditions of plasma treatment. By atmospheric pressure plasma treatment, wool fiber had significant changes in morphology structure, surface chemical component, mechanic properties and dyeability, while ramie fiber just showed a little change. In additional, Ar/Q2 plasma showed more effective action than argon. And at the beginning of treatment, plasma brought about remarkable effects, which did not increase with prolonging of treat time.