Effect of actual surface area on adhesion strength of copper electroplated on ABS plastic micro-textured by hot embossing

Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS plastic) is one of the most widely used thermoplastic resins for electroplating. In electroplating, a glossing metallic layer coated on ABS plastic surface. Yet, electroplated coating has poor adhesion to plastics. Thus, polymer producers strive develop more adhesive electroplating grades plastic. Unfortunately, there no reliable method quantify chemistry-induced separately from interlocking. Herein, chemical at metal-polymer measured via precision manipulation with actual surface area plastic, without introducing interlocking and modifications. We fabricated 9 moulds 2, 4 6 µm wide deep pillars, hot-embossed pillars into copper coating, peeled measure strength, observed micro-textured plastic/copper interface in SEM. found that strength linearly proportional texture (1), independent non-interlocking size (2), strongly depends grade (3). The can be employed compare adhesivity different polymers while developing new