Openair-Plasma®
in the International Press

Plasmatreat is a company that produces plasma systems for a variety of different industries, but they´re moving further and further into the electronics field as applications grow. Global SMT & Packaging´s Editor-in-Chief, Trevor Galbraith interviewed Nico Coenen from Plasmatreat to discuss some of the more recent developments.

https://smt-pcb-electronics-manufacturing-news.globalsmt.net/books/dmgs/

Pioneering plasma technologies from Plasmatreat are the key to progress in the automotive industry. They produce
high-quality surfaces with selected characteristics, enable new material combinations and ensure environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. As such, they lay the foundations for high-tech innovative mobility and vehicle concepts such as lightweight engineering, autonomous driving and electromobility. Process-reliable, cost-effective and fully automated.

Towards a new era in automotive engineering with plasma

Plasmatreat GmbH, a Steinhagen, Germany, based manufacturer of plasma systems for high-efficiency surface treatment and environment-friendly production processes, unveiled a new plasma treatment unit at the K 2019 trade show. A key innovation with this treatment unit is that it uses XPlanar, a planar motor system from Beckhoff, to transport workpieces with precision and flexibility. XPlanar replaces prior systems used to move often sensitive workpieces such as PCBs and eliminates the need to install complex 6-axis robots and linear motors.

https://www.pc-control.net/pdf/012020/solutions/pcc_0120_plasmatreat_e.pdf

XPlanar transports workpiece during plasma surface treatment process

Automotive manufacturers can replace costly and time-consuming processes with plasma surface treatments. The technology facilitates the production of strongly bonded composite materials and new material combinations.

Plasma processes reduce costs in automotive manufacturing

Increasing demands on component functionality and the need for efficient manufacturing processes are keeping multi-component injection molding squarely in the focus of plastics processing. Not all materials can be processed reliably in the desired combination. The new InMould Plasma process, which is fully integrated into the injection molding process, facilitates more-efficient production and paves the way for completely new material combinations. Kunststoffe (01/2020) reports in detail.

www.kunststoffe.de/en/

More Material Combinations, Lower Costs

Results of a research project together with researchers from Fraunhofer IVV (Freising) was recently published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.

The scientific publication demonstrates that a portable plasma system, developed by Plasmatreat, generates plasma processed air, which is able to efficiently disinfect surfaces. The Plasmatreat portable plasma system could be a promising alternative to manual decontamination with harmful disinfectants in case of biological hazards and pandemics, for personal protective equipment of rescue forces. In Addition, the current drawbacks regarding supply, handling and disposal of chemicals, could be overcome.

https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jam.14528

When adhesion is not just functionally relevant, but also a matter of product safety, pretreating the material with plasma is often the only option to satisfy the high standards required. The DICHTUNGSTECHNIK JAHRBUCH 2020 (Yearbook of Sealing and Gasket Technologies 2020) describes in detail the use of Plasmatreat technologies for safety-relevant industrial adhesive and sealing processes.

www.isgatec.com/index.php/de/Media/Fachbuecher/Dichtungstechnik-Jahrbuecher/JAHRBUCH-Dichten.-Kleben.-Polymer.-2020

Adhesion as a safety factor

Just a few years ago, a global lighting manufacturer decided to radically change his pretreatment method before bonding. Instead of wet chemicals, atmospheric pressure plasma achieved the high level of adhesion required for the thousands of aluminum lighting housings produced each year. ALUMINIUM-PRAXIS (Kick-Off Edition 11/2019) reports.

www.alu-web.de

Groundbreaking decision: Adhesion without primer

For the 'MoPlasDekon' (mobile plasma decontamination) joint project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Plasmatreat and its project partners have developed a plasma disinfector which can decontaminate surfaces contaminated as a result of biological hazards without using chemicals. MEDICINE & TECHNOLOGY (No.1 [11].2019) reports.

medizin-und-technik.industrie.de

Research for civil protection: Decontamination with DBD plasma

Large quantities of chemicals and contaminated wastewater are normally incurred during the precleaning of aluminum strips before coating. For the past 12 years, Openair-Plasma® has enabled a leading solar shading manufacturer to avoid using any wet chemicals for fine cleaning their aluminum strips and so set an example of environment responsibility. The specialist journal WOMAG (10/2019) reports in detail.

www.wotech-technical-media.de/womag

Plasma for chrome-free sun shading