Applications and Advantages Of Plasma Treatment

Plasma advantages

Following advantages are reached by using this technique:
1. Environmental friendly technique: because of the low energy consumption, the fact
it is a dry technique (no additional drying step), no waste disposal problem and
disposal cost.
2. Operator friendly technique: no chemical products, gasses etc.
3. Qualitative and full controllable process: all parameters are controlled by the
unit and quality control possible by print-out and data-logging
4. Effective treatment: higher degree of activation, longer shelf-life than
alternative methods as corona and flaming
5. No substrate damage or bulk property changes
6. Different processes can run in the same unit
7. No limit to substrate geometries : small and large, simple or complex, parts or
textiles are possible

All these advantages make it part of the future techniques for surface preparation and modification.

Plasma applications

The different possible treatments and there applications are presented below.
Plasma can be used and industrial systems are on the market for following substrates:
1. Small parts like hubs or balloons up to very huge and complex substrates
2. Fibers, non woven, woven, paper
3. Plastic foils
4. Metal and ceramic parts

Plasma can be used for following goals:

Adhesion promotion:
All polymers as for example PP, PE, PA, POM, Teflon, have a low to medium surface energy. Therefore they are difficult to glue, paint, coat etc. By using oxygen plasma it is possible to get them in a condition that they obtain the best possible contact with the glue or coating. This chemical/physical process has formed a surface with an optimal number of bonding sites at the surface. Through this it is possible to attach the glue or coating to the surface without non-contact zones as bubbles or unreachable areas in holes. The surface is as such asking for contact with the liquid. By using plasma the surface energy is increased for example for a propylene from 29 dynes/cm to 72 dynes/cm which is about the value of full water contact. This activation process is used were a high quality bonding has to be achieved. Gluing of catheters and balloon catheters, gluing of the needle in the hub of syringes, dialysis filters, and other medical parts.

Hydrophilic properties:
Another and specially developed activation process can be used to make the surface hydrophilic. This permanently hydrophilic character is used to give woven, and non woven textiles the capability to be used as blood filter or filtering membranes for specific applications. Applications are micro filtration systems based on these textiles or capillaries: blood filters, dialysis filter systems...

Oleophobicity and Hydrophobicity:
By using semi-continuous textile treaters it is possible to plasma polymerise the surface of non woven and other textiles so that they become hydrophobic of nature. A lot of industrial users are looking to replace their conventional techniques or improve the final result by using plasma technology. Applications are oleophobic or hydrophobic treatment of paper, tissues and filter elements.

Biocompatibility:
Activation of surfaces for cell growth or protein bonding is another industrial application. In this case it is possible to prepare Petry disks and micro titre plates for laboratory experiments or drug production purposes. This can also be applied on implants to increase the acceptation by the human body. The surface will be open to adhere a blood compatible layer. This improves biocompatibility. Typical applications are vascular grafts, lenses, drug delivery implants… Surfaces can also be modified to decrease the bonding of proteins or blood compatibility. For example in food industry or in pharmaceutical industry.

Cross linking:
Some surfaces have to be made more chemical or scratch resistant. These typical surface conditions can be obtained by using plasma to reform the surface by cross linking the surface bindings. Used for catheters, medical instruments, contact lenses,