Surface treatment for
Plastic film manufacturers
The task
Plastic film producers manufacture plastic films with tailor-made compositions and characteristics that make them ideally suited for their designated use. Usage as packaging material, surface-finishing film, a laminate layer or as the basic product for converters are among the many possible applications of film materials. The film’s surface tension is an important factor in all these applications as it is a measure of the wettability and printability of a film surface. To improve these characteristics of their product, manufacturers subject freshly produced films to a corona treatment to optimize surface treatment.
Plastic film are produced in large widths (exceeding 10 m in the production of BOPP films) and require specialized treatment systems able to deliver consistently high power levels over large electrode widths. SOFTAL has been specialized in the production of these treatment systems for decades.
Over 50 years of experience come to bear in the construction and manufacture of our treatment stations, immediately recognizable in the attention to detail and sophisticated design. An example for this is our patended Intelliblade™ electrode which ensures a homogenous discharge and a constant electrode gap over the entire width even at high power and heat levels.
It goes without saying that maintenance free operation and professional service are core values for a manufacturer whose name has become synonymous with quality, workmanship and reliability.
Results
Low operating cost
Adhesion guaranteed
We are proud of our growing global customer base that includes manufacturers of film production lines, finishers, film producers and research companies.
Naturally, the portfolio of products offered by SOFTAL is just as multi-faceted as our customer base. This is made possible by the modular design of our treatment systems, which allows customer-specific changes and a rapid development of new systems and processes. This ideal starting point allows us to meet customer demands and achieve results. Guaranteed.
Install and forget
SOFTAL has been part of the corona and plasma industry for more than half a century. Our engineers and developers know, what really matters at the end of the production day. Factors like easy maintenance and service, low operating cost, long life and the optimum in operator safety are considered early in the development process to ensure maximum user-friendliness and up-time.
Customer-specific interfaces and solutions
The numerous hardware and software solutions offered by our treatment systems ensure seamless integration into customer-specific systems and processes. Starting from proven standard components, our systems can be modified to suit any material and/or process. We specialize in the surface treatment of your materials – so you can concentrate on your core business.
Preparation for convertings steps
If a film is subjected to corona treatment directly after production, good results can be achieved with relatively little effort. As surface characteristics are an important sales argument, corona pre-treatment offers plastic film producers a simple and cost-efficient way to an improved product.
Reliable service
The name SOFTAL is synonymous with premium quality systems and a high level of customer satisfaction all over the world. Our unique network of comprehensively trained service professionals located in strategically chosen countries allows us to be personally present in international locations in a matter of hours.
Low operating costs at resonance frequency
SOFTAL generators are setting the industry benchmark for efficiency and cost effectiveness. Careful balancing between generator, transformer and treatment station ensure that the system operates at resonance frequency. This means that the treatment system operates at maximum efficiency, keeping the operating costs as low as possible over the entire lifetime.
SOFTAL surface treatment technologies for plastic film producers
Corona
Material surfaces are treated with the plasma generated by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) to increase their surface energy. An increase in surface energy leads to an increase in the adhesive forces exerted by the surface, which is a major advantage for printing, laminating and other processes. This effect is therefore used frequently in the production and converting of plastic films and other substrates.
Plasma
So-called plasma treatment technology is based on the same principle as corona treatment systems. However, in a plasma treatment system, the discharge is ignited within an atmosphere of pure Nitrogen. This gives the user better control of the process gas atmosphere and treatment results.
Linear Plasma
Linear Plasma is a further development of the Plasma Jet technology and suitable for treatment of large surface areas. As no counter-electrode outside of the electrode housing is required, this technology is suitable for materials of virtually unlimited thickness. Another important feature of Linear Plasma is the ability to generate a potential-free plasma, which is usable on even the most sensitive materials that would otherwise be destroyed by a plasma discharge.
ALDYNE™
In an ALDYNE™ system, the plasma is ignited within an exactly controlled process gas atmosphere. The composition of the process gas can be adjusted, until the process gas atmosphere and plasma discharge fit the requirements of the related material perfectly. Often used in combination with our patented liquid-cooled electrodes, ALDYNE™ offers extreme results on extreme materials.
Corona stations
The portfolio of products offered by SOFTAL is as diverse as the possible applications of corona technology. Our corona and plasma systems are always based on our tried and tested standard components, but specifically chosen and adopted to meet the demands of your materials and processes.
Corona generators
SOFTAL corona generators are, of course, just as adaptive as our corona stations. It goes without saying that the products of a company that has been successful in the market for decades offer the ease-of-use, robustness, low maintenance and service costs and numerous small and large solutions for smooth everyday production work that you expect form a global player.
