Surface treatment of foams and sheets
The task
The surface treatment of foams and sheets involves very specific challenges: On one hand, these materials are by definition much thicker than simple films and require a larger distance between plasma electrode and counter electrode. On the other hand, they are rarely massive but contain cavities or air inclusions. A conventional corona treatment approach would invariably lead to a plasma forming in cavities and an undesired treatment of these areas. This has a number of disadvantages, such as the reduced power available for treatment of the material surface and the undesired weakening of cavity walls.
The Linear Plasma process by SOFTAL offers an economic solution to these challenges. In a Linear Plasma-based treatment process, the plasma discharge is ignited between two internal electrodes and then blown onto the material by compressed air or another gas. As no counter-electrode on the underside of the material is required, this process allows an economic, industrially usable surface treatment of materials with any thickness with no risk of a cavity or backside treatment.
RESULTS
High wettability
Characteristics
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.
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.
No cavity or backside treatment
Industrial foams and multiwall sheets have air inclusions and cavities, which has made them notoriously unsuitable for corona treatment in the past. Undesired treatment in these areas can weaken the material and waste power. The basic working principle of Linear Plasma from SOFTAL eliminates this problem completely, as the treated material does not pass between the corona electrode and a counter electrode here. The plasma discharge is generated within the electrode housing and strictly localized to the material surface.
Linear Plasma process
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.
Technology for surface treatment of industrial foams and sheets
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.
SOFTAL 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 of a global player.
