Polymers are used in a wide variety of industries to fabricate a legion of products because of their many desirable traits. However, polymers in general (and polyolefins, in particular)are innately not very adhesionable because of absence of polar or reactive groups on their surfaces and concomitant low surface energy. So surface treatment of polymers is sine qua non to impart reactive chemical groups on their surfaces to enhance their adhesion characteristics. Proper surface treatment can endow polymers with improved adhesion without tempering with the bulk properties. A plethora of techniques (ranging from wet to dry, simple to sophisticated, vacuum to non-vacuum) for polymer surface modification have been documented in the literature but the Atmospheric Pressure Plasma (APP) treatment has attracted much attention because it offers many advantages vis-a-vis other techniques, namely uniform treatment, continuous operation, no requirement for vacuum, simplicity, low cost, no environmental or disposal concern, and applicability to large area samples. Although the emphasis in this book is on the utility of APP treatment for enhancement of polymer adhesion, APP is also applicable and effective to modulate many other surface properties of polymers: superhydrophilicity, superhydrophobicity, anti-fouling, anti-fogging, anti-icing, cell adhesion, biocompatibility, tribological behavior, etc.
