Improvement in the hydrophilic property of inner surface of polyvinyl chloride tube by DC glow discharge plasma

A DC glow discharge plasma was generated inside polymer tube at low pressure. The polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tube with 4 mm inner diameter and 50 mm length was treated by Ar plasma generated inside the tube. The hydrophilic property of the inner surface of the PVC tube was remarkably improved after the plasma treatment. The water contact angle of the inner surface decreased to 37° from 75° for the untreated sample as the treatment time increase to 30 min. The water contact angle of plasma-treated PVC tube decreases with increasing applied voltage, but increase with increase in working pressure. When the Ar plasma-treated PVC tubes are stored in air at room temperature, the contact-angles of the inner surface quickly increases and finally reaches a plateau value which is still considerably lower than the 75° for the untreated sample.