Examination of Plating on ABS Plastics and Its Adhesion under Electron Microscope

This paper reports the research on adhesion mechanism of electroless plating on ABS plastics under an electron microscope. Peeling test was conducted to determine the adhesive strength between copper and the plastics. It was indicated in normal plating conditions that peeling did not occur on the interface between plastics and metal, but on the surface layer of the plastics; and the adhesive strength depended upon the strength of the surface layer of the plastics. Hence, the molding and etching conditions of plastics had powerful effects on the adhesive strength. The above effects would be caused by the presence of internal stress and orientation in the contact part with the mold which made that layer concentrically brittle. The presence of such layer was observed under the electron microscope. The etching conditions had effects on the formation of dovetail joints. Stronger adhesion was produced by the formation of numerous joints under proper etching conditions. However, the parts of anchoring were limited on the whole, and chemical combination would also be taken into consideration for adhesion mechanism.