Siliconizing Of Thermoplastic via Silica Sand Bath

Siliconizing is one of the coating processes that produce a thin film layer on the surface and improve the surface properties of the polymer. The objectives of this study are to introduce new surface coating method for thermoplastic material and to establish an optimum siliconizing parameters in producing uniform thin film coating onto thermoplastic polymers surface by using the silica sand bath. The siliconizing process was conducted by using only acrylic plate as the substrate, silica sand and brick as container. The samples were immersed in silica sand and heated in furnace at three different temperatures: 100 , 130 and 160 for duration of 4 hours. In this study, the microstructure and surface properties of the samples were characterised and analysed using FESEM and EDX in order to look in the difference before and after the experiment. The evaluation focused on microstructure and analysis of the coating layer formed at the surface of the sample. After experiment, there is coating layer produced at heating temperature of 130 and 160 . Whereas, there were no physical changes observed on the surface of the sample at heating temperature of 100 . Based on the result obtained, the microstructure of siliconized samples were found slightly rough compared to the original surface which is smooth and shiny. The XRF analysis of silica sand is used to compare the element composition of the surface and element composition of common silica sand. From the study that have been conducted, it was found that heating temperature of 160 for 4 hours are suitable parameters for siliconizing of acrylic via silica sand bath.