Introduction

This book is devoted to modern and future applications of ion implantation technologies for polymer materials. Modern ion sources are becoming cheaper and more effective for use in industrial processes. This situation has led us to collect our data on the modification of polymer materials and to present different kinds of polymer processes where ion implantation can provide new properties for polymers or solve technological problems. We have considered different applications, from dish washers to implantable biomedical devices for use in humans to space constructions.

The book is based on our original results (School of Physics in University of Sydney, Australia; Rossendorf Research Center and Institute of Polymer Research, Dresden, Germany; Institute of Technical Chemistry, Perm, Russia) and previous experience in ion beam implantation of polymers, as well as basic physical and chemical knowledge related to this field. We do not attempt to present a complete scientific description of polymers or industrial polymer processing using ion beam technologies, but rather aim to spark ideas for useful applications of ion beam implantation to polymers or potential solutions to problems in this field.

Because of our attempts to focus on present ion beam technology suitable for industry, we do not consider very high-energy particle sources, since the cost of such sources is typically too expensive for exploitation on polymer material processing. Our aim is to explore sufficiently low-cost devices and systems that could be used in small enterprises for production of special-purpose polymer materials and devices, where the ratio of “cost of equipment”/“sale price of material” is not too high.

We appreciate the assistance of our friends and colleagues, who contributed their knowledge and their efforts in obtaining the results presented: Yuri Klyachkin, Valery Begishev, Nail Valeev, Viktor Trushnikov, Gennady Mesyats, Nikolay Gavrilov, Elsa Tereshatova, Sergey Lisenko, Valery Karmanov, Svetlana Astafyeva, Valentina Romanova, Irina Osorgina, Rustam Khaibullin, Reihard Guenzel, Manfred Maitz, Edgar Richter, Emily Pecheva, Galina Nechitailo, Alexander Mashinski, Vladimir Briskman, Stephane Langloise, Manfred Stamm, Pilip Volodin, Jan Weber, Bee Kwan Gan, Neil Nosworthy, Leo Phillips, David McKenzie, Elena Kosobrodova, Keith Fisher, Konstantin Kondyurin, Darya Kondyurina, and Irina Kondyurina.