Plasma Treatment: Reduction of VOC Emissions and Improvement of Environmentally Sensitive Processes with Plasma Surface Treatment Prior to Bonding, Coating and Printing Applications

This paper will outline the basic premise of surface treatment requirements, introduce the concepts of plasma and plasma treatment, describe the effects of plasma treatment, detail the environmental benefits of plasma via case studies and end with a short summary. A quick introduction of current surface treatment methods will be discussed and compared with plasma treatment. A short overview of plasma and how it is generated and used in an industrial setting will be explained. The effect of plasma treatment on substrates and bonding parameters will then be discussed. The bulk of the paper will focus on the elimination of environmentally unfriendly surface treatment processes such as: solvent wiping, power washing, and the application of adhesion promoters and primers. These will be demonstrated through the use of case studies and data to support VOC reductions.