Plates, sheets, fibers and other articles can be rendered water repellent by subjecting the articles at their surface to a glow discharge plasma under atmospheric pressure. The treating gas is a mixture of an inert gas and a fluorinated compound in the form of a cyclic or unsaturated hydrocarbon having some or all of the hydrogen atoms thereof replaced by halogen groups including fluorine atoms. The surface treatment lowers the surface energy of the articles in a long lasting manner.
