Variable Angle ATR-FTIR Study of the Surface Aminolysis of Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate) Films

Hydrophobic surfaces of poly(ethylene terephtalate) films were modified by using a mild wet chemical procedure with triethylenetetramine as a reagent. The chemical composition was determined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. With the aim of obtaining the depth profile of the newly created species the variable angle attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR spectroscopy was used. The most important functionalities resulting front the aminolysis that we chose to monitor were amide groups. By varying the incidence angle of the infrared radiation, chemical changes were investigated from layers of different thicknesses. It was observed that the absorption bands attributed to amide moieties became weaker with increasing analyzed depth, with a pronounced heterogeneity near the surface. By assuming an exponential decay for the depth profile spectrally obtained, the surface concentration of amide groups and the decay constant were determined for the reaction times used.