Fluoropolymers can provide a combination of properties including high temperature resistance, excellent resistance to many chemicals and ultraviolet (UV) radiation, fire resistance and low friction. Fluoropolymers are relatively expensive and they are generally used in specialised applications such as linings for chemical plant, spacecraft coatings that are resistant to atomic oxygen, fire-resistant coatings for cables, and of course, non-stick functions. There are more than twenty different fluoropolymers that are commercially available. Important examples of fluorinated plastics include:

An example of a fluorinated elastomer is a terpolymer of vinylidene fluoride (VDF), hydropentafluoropropylene (HPFP) and tetrafluoroethylene (TFE).

Good adhesion is required in a number of technologies involving fluoropolymers including adhesive bonding, painting, printing, metallisation ( via vacuum or solution) and composite production. However, fully fluorinated polymers such as PTFE and FEP are notoriously difficult to adhere to, while partially fluorinated polymers such as PVDF and PVF may cause problems depending on the circumstances. To achieve a satisfactory level of adhesion, it is often necessary to carry out a pretreatment with both fully and partially fluorinated polymers.

In this review the principles of adhesion are considered first (Section 2). Techniques that have greatly increased our understanding of adhesion to fluoropolymers are described in Section 3. Cases where good adhesion is achieved without a pretreatment are examined in Section 4. However, as pretreatments are usually needed to get the required level of...