Plasmatreat GmbH develops systems and equipment for the industrial pre-treatment of surfaces using atmospheric pressure plasma. Thanks to open-air plasma, industrial processes can be made more reliable, efficient and environmentally friendly without chemicals or solvents. The company will be presenting practical and future-proof application examples at K 2025.
Plasma revolutionizes adhesion
There is great interest in vehicle construction in using standard plastics such as PP (polypropylene) more frequently instead of engineering plastics (such as PC+ABS). However, the challenge lies in the surface properties: PP is non-polar, which means that the reactive PUR system does not adhere to it. Plasmatreat shows how open-air plasma can be used directly after the injection molding process of the PP component and before the innovative PUR in-mould coating process: With the help of a special, extra-wide plasma nozzle, a full-surface plasma pre-treatment of an injection-molded component is carried out. In addition to physical locking due to the surface roughness, the activated PP surface now also forms chemical bonds with the reactive PUR coating system. In this way, components are optimally prepared for the subsequent overflow with a PUR coating. The open-air plasma pre-treatment method is highly efficient, as it takes place inline in the process, automated and robot-controlled. The precisely reproducible process increases the quality of the results and replaces environmentally harmful processes such as flame treatment or the use of solvent-based primers.
Pretreating recycled plastics
Other possible applications of open-air plasma that improve industrial processes include the pre-treatment of recycled plastics, e.g. to enable printing with UV inks. Here, Plasmatreat and its partner Tampoprint GmbH will be demonstrating how long-term resistant, VOC-free printing of dolphins made from recycled plastics can be realized. Trade visitors will also see how previously incompatible plastic combinations (e.g. PE and PA6, TPU and PP) can be made compatible for bonding by means of plasma activation. Golf balls, frisbees, skis, wheels, paddles and pickle ball rackets will also play a role at the trade fair stand - because plasma not only increases the efficiency in the production of these sports equipment, but also their performance. One example is the use of open-air plasma at Chip-Ing. in Switzerland, a global leader in the production of trackable golf balls.