Superior adhesive performance advanced through plasma surface treatment

Engineers at Intertronics’ partners Relyon Plasma has demonstrated the substantial increases in bond strength achievable with the use of plasma surface treatment, which can improve adhesion on many substrates, including those which are seen as difficult to bond. Plasma surface treatment can enable otherwise impractical bonds and improve assembly performance, while saving time and money in the concept-to-market cycle. Structural plastics and the inter-mixing of plastic/composite/metal components in high performance applications are two big areas of interest. Plastics are usually characterised by inert surfaces with surface energies between 20mN/m and 40mN/m. In order to wet a surface, however, the surface energy of the polymer must exceed the one of the paint, ink or the adhesive. This condition can be achieved through a plasma treatment or “activation” of the surface, raising the surface energy and improving the wettability of the adhesive.