Due to economic considerations polymer construction materials become an important alternative in apparatus design. Also a requirement of metal-free products (pharmaceutical or food industries) or the handling of corrosive fluids demands innovative heat exchanger materials. Therefore the existing concept of a polymer film heat exchanger should be optimized to make it a more competitive alternative to common devices. Different polymers are characterized due to their surface free energy and falling film wettability as well as their mechanical limits. The wetting behaviour of the surfaces is successfully improved by physical surface treatments and is stated for different temperatures. The limiting mechanical values stayed unaffected to the treatments.
