The surface functionalisation of polyethylene and polypropylene by industrial and laboratory scale corona treatments and by laboratory flame treatment was studied. The surface sensitive techniques of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflection infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), contact angle measurement and electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) were employed. Corona and flame treatments resulted in incorporation of oxygen only into the surfaces of both polyethylene and polypropylene, resulting in improved surface wettabilities. A variety of oxygen functional groups were introduced by the two treatments. The industrial and laboratory scale treatments of both polymers were found to be similar in terms of the oxygen concentrations incorporated and surface wettabilities achieved. The presence of significant amounts of chain scission products were indicated on corona treated surfaces, while only minimal quantities were indicted on flame treated surfaces. This was attributed to their volatilisation during flame treatment. Introduction of sulfur dioxide into the flame and corona regions during treatment resulted in significant improvements in surface wettability. Incorporation of sulfur and nitrogen resulted from the presence of sulfur dioxide. A possible mechanism involving the formation of sulfonic acid groups and ammonium sulfonate groups was suggested. An oxidation depth model developed for use with variable take-off angle XPS showed that significantly deeper oxidation occurred in the presence of sulfur dioxide. Corona treatment was more effective in improving surface wettabilities than flame treatment, this being attributed to heat induced functional group reorientation during flame . treatment for polyethylene and to differences in surface chemistry resulting from the two treatments in the case of polypropylene. The surface wettability of poly ethylene was more readily improved than the surface wettability of polypropylene after all the treatments investigated. A method for estimating functional group concentrations using chemical derivatisation and contact angle measurement was developed. Functional group estimates for flame treated polyethylene were found to be in good agreement with chemical derivatisation used in conjunction with XPS measurements.

Les pièces peintes de pièces extérieures automobiles doivent être réalisées en matériaux respectueux de l’environnement qui combinent à la fois fluidité, propriétés mécaniques et aspect visuel. Dans ce contexte, un polypropylène homopolymère conventionnel (PP) a été extrudé et mélangé de manière homogène avec un PP extrêmement fluide, contenant des espèces réactives dans le but d’augmenter la fluidité du mélange final. Ce procédé réactif a ensuite été appliqué à une formulation commerciale automobile de « PP choc » contenant un copolymère d’Ethylène Propylène Rubber (EPR). Une étude rhéologique a permis de modéliser l’évolution de la viscosité en fonction de la composition du mélange. Néanmoins, l’augmentation de la fluidité s’accompagne d’une diminution de la résistance au choc. De manière à faire face à la perte de propriétés mécaniques, l’utilisation d’élastomères thermoplastiques spécifiques a permis d‘augmenter la résilience au choc et l’allongement à la rupture tout en obtenant une fluidité quatre fois supérieure à celle du matériau original. Les aspects rhéologiques, thermomécaniques et morphologiques ont été soigneusement étudiés afin d’établir des relations entre la structure et les propriétés. Dans un second temps, une étude de la mise en peinture des pièces en polyoléfines injectées a été réalisée. Comme la nature hydrophobe du polypropylène ne permet pas une bonne adhésion du revêtement sur sa surface, son activation par flammage est requise. Les effets de différents paramètres (comme la vitesse, la hauteur ou le rapport air-gaz de la flamme) sont étudiés en termes de mouillabilité et d’adhésion du feuil de peinture. Ensuite, des essais aux échelles laboratoires et industrielles ont révélé un défaut du système peint lorsque le polymère possède une quantité importante de talc. L’impact de cette charge sur les propriétés rhéologiques, thermiques et mécaniques du matériau a été étudié. Il a été observé que le cisaillement sur une formulation dont la matrice polymère n’a pas d’affinité particulière avec la surface du talc est responsable d’un délaminage dans le substrat. Pour améliorer l’interface talc-matrice, l’ajout de copolymères fonctionnalisés d’anhydride maléique a permis d’augmenter le niveau d’interactions. Cet effet a été mis en évidence grâce à l’étude des propriétés rhéologiques et mécaniques du système. / Automotive painted exterior car parts have to be made of eco-friendly materials combining fluidity, mechanical properties and visual aspects. In this context, a conventional polypropylene (PP) homopolymer has been extruded and homogeneously blended with an extremely high flow PP, containing reactive species to increase the fluidity of the resulting material. The reactive process was then applied to an automotive high impact PP/Ethylene Propylene Rubber (EPR) formulation and rheological studies allowed us to model the evolution of viscosity as a function of the blend composition. Nevertheless, the increase of fluidity induces a lack of impact resistance. In order to cope with the loss of mechanical properties, the use of a specific thermoplastic elastomers allowed to successfully emphasize impact resilience and strain at break while reaching a viscosity four times lower than the one of the original material. Rheological, thermomechanical and morphological aspects were examined carefully to establish structure-properties relationships. In a second time, a study of the painting of automotive car parts, made of injected polyolefins was carried out. As the hydrophobic nature of polypropylene does not allow a good adhesion between the coating and the polymer surface, the surface activation by flame treatment is required. The effects of different parameters (such as speed, height or air to fuel ratio of the flame) were studied in terms of wettability and coating adhesion. Then, lab-scale as well as pre-industrial experiments revealed defaults of the painted systems when the polymer was highly filled with talc. Then, the impact of the filler on the rheological, thermal and mechanical properties was studied. It was observed that the effects of shear on a formulation where the polymer matrix has no particular physical affinity with the talc surface are responsible of delamination. To enhance the talc-matrix interface, the addition of maleated copolymers pointed out that maleated copolymers increase the level of interactions and lead to a more homogeneous behavior, as revealed by studying both rheological and mechanical properties.