Chemical surface preparation for metallization of stereolithography polymers

Chemical surface preparation specifically for stereolithography SLA.polymers prior to its metallization is reported for the first time in the present paper. Contact angle analysis was conducted to assess the surface hydrophilicity so as to optimize the preparation process. The applicability of this technology was verified by subsequent metallization process. This introduces an efficient method for metallization of SLA polymers and enhances its performance in applications. X-ray diffraction XRD.and atomic force microscopy AFM.image analysis were applied to understand the phase composition and the micromorphologies of the substrate. Surface profiling and optical microscopy were applied for surface analysis to understand the progression of surface modification during chemical preparation process. Crown copyright q2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.