JPH0121260B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for subjecting sheet materials including knitted fabrics, woven fabrics, nonwoven fabrics, resin films, etc. to low-temperature plasma treatment.

Traditionally, most of the industrial scouring and finishing treatments for fabrics such as woven, knitted, and nonwoven fabrics, as well as coating treatments to impart new properties to films, have been carried out in aqueous systems, with only a small portion using organic solvents. Processing is also being carried out.

However, these conventional methods use water, organic solvents, or scouring agents, and also use large amounts of water and energy agents to raise the temperature of the treatment bath, wash the material to be treated, and then dry it. Furthermore, a large amount of wastewater was generated during the treatment, which caused pollution problems and increased costs due to wastewater treatment, making it uneconomical.

For this reason, in recent years, textile products such as fabrics have been treated with low-temperature plasma to obtain, for example, desizing and scouring effects, or the surface of dyed fabrics, resin films, or resin sheets has been treated with low-temperature plasma to achieve the desired dyeing effect. It has been proposed to perform surface modification treatment on fabric resin films or resin sheets, but in the batch-type low-temperature plasma processing equipment that is currently being proposed, a long sheet-like material is installed in a batch. The sheet material is subjected to low-temperature plasma treatment while it is being wound around a spindle or roll, wound onto another spindle or roll, and transferred, but during operation, the inside of the batch is always kept in a low-temperature plasma atmosphere. Because the rolled sheet material is held in the atmosphere and the rolled sheet material is located in this atmosphere, both end surfaces of the rolled sheet material are always in a low temperature plasma atmosphere. On the other hand, the parts that are rolled and overlapped are not affected by the low-temperature plasma until they are pulled out by the other roll. There was a problem that the amount of processing by low-temperature plasma was different between the two, resulting in uneven processing.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a batch-type low-temperature plasma processing apparatus that can perform uniform low-temperature plasma treatment over the entire surface of a sheet object. It is.

The present invention will be explained in detail below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a reactor, and this reactor 1 is provided with openings 2 and 3 through which sheet materials to be treated (fabrics, resin sheets, etc.) are taken in and out; 3 is designed to be sealed by a lid 4. The interior of this reactor 1 is divided into a first sheet winding chamber 5, a first decompression chamber 6, a low temperature plasma processing chamber 7, a second decompression chamber 8, and a second sheet winding chamber 9. A sealing roll 12 is provided on the partition wall 10 separating each chamber, which allows the sheet material 11 to pass through but prevents air permeability between adjacent chambers. The airtightness of this seal roll 12 does not have to be as high as shown in the figure, and some degree of air permeability may be allowed. Moreover, a lip seal may be used instead of the seal roll 12. A sheet winding shaft 13 is installed in the first sheet winding chamber 5 and the second sheet winding chamber 9, and a sheet material is transported in the first decompression chamber 6 and the second decompression chamber 8 at a timing. A guide roll group 14 is provided for the movement, and a similar guide roll group 15 is also provided within the low temperature plasma processing chamber 7. Reference numeral 16 denotes a vacuum pipe connected to the first reduced pressure chamber 6 and the second reduced pressure chamber 8, and this vacuum pipe 16 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown). 17 is a gas supply port connected to the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7, and this gas supply port 17 supplies gas activated by low-temperature plasma generated outside the reactor 1 through the gas supply port 17. In this embodiment, the plasma is supplied into the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7, but as another embodiment, two electrodes (not shown) are installed in the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7 at a position that does not interfere with the movement of the sheet material. The body is placed in the electrode body, and a high frequency (from long wavelength to short wavelength can be used, but it is preferable to use
1 kHz to 300 MHz) and further supplying gas into the processing chamber 7 from the gas supply port 17 to generate low-temperature plasma within the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7.

The configuration of this embodiment has been described above, and its operation will now be described.

First, a long sheet object 1 is placed in the first sheet winding chamber 5.
The sheet winding shaft 13 on which the long sheet material 1 has been wound is set, and the tip of the long sheet object 11 is passed through each chamber and wound around the sheet winding shaft 13 installed in the second sheet winding chamber 9, and the sheet is Preparations are made so that the sheet material can be re-wound onto the winding shaft 13, and the lid 4 is further closed to seal the reactor 1. Next, the vacuum pump is driven to create a negative pressure in the vacuum pipe 16, and when the degree of vacuum in the low temperature plasma processing chamber 7 becomes 0.5 Torr or less, the low temperature plasma processing chamber 7 is connected to the gas supply port 17.
By supplying low-temperature plasma into the chamber 7 or by supplying oxygen, a mixed gas containing oxygen, or other gas from the gas supply port 17 into the chamber 7, the degree of vacuum in the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7 is maintained at 0.5 to 10 Torr. For example, if the high frequency power is adjusted so that
13.56MHz is supplied to the electrode plate to create a low-temperature plasma atmosphere in the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7. Next, the winding shaft 13 in the second sheet winding chamber 9 is driven to move the sheet material 11 between the decompression chamber and the low-temperature plasma processing chamber. In this way, by transferring the sheet object 11 into the low temperature plasma atmosphere in the low temperature plasma processing chamber 7, when the sheet object 11 is a fabric, the impurities contained in the fibers of the fabric itself and the impurities added to the fibers are removed. A part of the glue in the container is decomposed and a part becomes hydrophilic and becomes easily soluble in water. Furthermore, when the sheet material is a dyed fabric or a film resin sheet, the surface of the sheet can be modified.

However, in the present invention, the inside of the reactor which can be sealed is divided into a first sheet winding chamber, a first reduced pressure chamber, a low temperature plasma processing chamber, a second reduced pressure chamber, and a second reduced pressure chamber.
The sheet winding chambers are divided in this order, and each chamber is communicated with each other via a sealing mechanism so that the sheet material can pass therethrough.The first vacuum chamber and the second vacuum chamber are connected to a vacuum pump. A vacuum pipe is connected thereto, and the low temperature plasma processing chamber is further provided with a gas supply port or a gas supply port and an electrode body activated by the low temperature plasma, and the first sheet winding chamber and the second sheet winding chamber are connected to each other. Since this is a low-temperature plasma processing apparatus for a sheet-like material characterized in that a sheet winding shaft is arranged, the sheet winding chambers 5 and 9 are
is separated from the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7, and the sheet winding chambers are formed so that the gas activated by the low-temperature plasma does not flow into the sheet winding chamber. does not work. Therefore, the winding shaft 13
Excessive low-temperature plasma treatment is not performed on both edges of the sheet material 11 wound around the sheet material 11, and therefore, there is an effect that uniform low-temperature plasma treatment can be performed over the entire surface of the sheet material 11. Furthermore, in the present invention, since the decompression chambers 6 and 8 are formed between the low temperature plasma processing chamber 7 and the sheet winding chambers 5 and 9, in the decompression chambers, immediately before being supplied into the low temperature plasma processing chamber 7, Since volatile components (moisture) contained in the sheet material are removed, the degree of vacuum in the low-temperature plasma processing chamber 7 can be maintained at a good level. Furthermore, since a decompression chamber is provided between the sheet winding chamber and the low-temperature plasma processing chamber, the low-temperature plasma in the low-temperature plasma processing chamber does not flow into the sheet winding chamber at all, resulting in the above-mentioned uniform processing. It also has the advantage of being effective.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the device according to the present invention. 1... Reactor, 2, 3... Opening, 4... Lid,
5... First sheet winding chamber, 6... First reduced pressure chamber, 7... Low temperature plasma processing chamber, 8... Second reduced pressure chamber, 9... Second sheet winding chamber, 10... ...Partition wall, 11...Sheet material, 12...Seal roll,
13... Sheet winding shaft, 14... Guide roll group, 15... Guide roll group, 16... Vacuum pipe, 17... Gas supply port.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The inside of the reactor which can be sealed is divided into a first sheet winding chamber, a first decompression chamber, a low temperature plasma processing chamber, a second decompression chamber, and a second sheet winding chamber, Further, each chamber is communicated with each other via a sealing mechanism so that a sheet object can pass therethrough, and the first
The decompression chamber and the second decompression chamber are provided with a group of guide rolls to ensure the timing of passage of the sheet material passing through these decompression chambers, and are connected to a vacuum pipe leading to a vacuum pump. The processing chamber was provided with a gas supply port or a gas supply port and an electrode body activated by low-temperature plasma, and sheet winding shafts were arranged in the first sheet winding chamber and the second sheet winding chamber. A low-temperature plasma processing apparatus for sheet-like materials characterized by: