Contact angle, electrokinetic, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) measurements have been used to study the surface properties of flame- and oxygen plasma-pretreated polypropylene/ethylenepropylene-diene monomer rubber (PP-EPDM) blends and of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers grafted with carboxyl group-containing monomers. The contact angles of pure test liquids (water, methylene iodide, and ethylene glycol) were used to calculate the dispersive and polar components of the surface free energy according to Owens and Wendt, and the acid-base parameters according to Van Oss and coworkers. In addition, the acid-base properties of the differently pretreated polymers could be evaluated quantitatively by measuring the zeta potential vs. the pH in a 10(-3) mol/l KCl solution. The zeta potential measurements show that oxygen plasma-treated PP-EPDM and grafted EVA indicate an acidic surface character, whereas the flame-treated PP-EPDM blends possess both acidic and basic surface groups. The basic surface character of flame-treated PP-EPDM injection-moulded sheets could be enhanced by the presence of sterically hindered amine light stabilizers in the blend. This increase in the basic surface character was not only proved by zeta potential measurements, but also by the contact angle method according to Van Oss and co-workers. These results correlate with an increase of the oxygen content in the surface region and the occurrence of nitrogen-containing functional groups detected by XPS. The plasma-treated surface region of PP-EPDM blends contained an increased amount of carboxyl group-containing species (O=C-O). Flame-treated surfaces with additional light stabilizers in the blend indicated an increased concentration C-OH groups together with protonated nitrogen in the surface region. It was found that the adhesion strength of water-based primers was higher at these surfaces. A general interrelation between the acidic and basic parameters determined by zeta potential measurements, on the one hand, and the acidic and basic parameters determined by contact angle measurements, on the other hand, could not be found. A direct correlation was found between the increasing acidic character of EVA grafted with different amounts of carboxyl group-containing monomers and the decrease in the receding contact angle.
