Hydrophobic Silk Fabric using Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

Plasma, an ionized gas, can be used for nano-scale surface engineering of textile substrate without using water as a processing media. Mulberry silk was plasma treated in an indigenously developed atmospheric pressure plasma reactor in presence of helium-fluorocarbon (He-FC) gases. After the plasma treatment, silk fabric turned into highly hydrophobic silk with water repellent property. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was carried out to investigate the presence of fluorocarbon molecule in the plasma treated sample. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image showed, there was some deposition fluorocarbon layer in the fibre surface.