Whether bonding metal to plastic, silicon to glass, polymers to other polymers of different durometers, biological content to polymeric microtiter plates or even bonding to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), plasma can be used to promote adhesion. Adhesion promotion can be achieved by increasing the surface free energy through several mechanisms, including precision cleaning, chemically or physically modifying the surface, increasing surface area by roughening, and primer coatings, according to Michael Barden of PVA TePla, a company that designs and manufactures plasma systems.

Plasmatreat will supply plasma surface conditioning equipment to the ChemQuest Technology Institute.

The webinar will be presented by Ryan Schuelke, vice president of Enercon Industries, from 2-3 p.m. EDT on June 22.

Nordson MARCH, a Nordson® company, recently announced that recent studies have shown that plasma treatment of printed circuit boards (PCBs) prior to conformal coating improves the adhesion of the coatings.

A new universal atmospheric plasma treater reportedly enables hand-held surface treatment on a variety of materials and applications.

A new water-based reactive auto-deposition coating is now available from this company.

Although five major bonding mechanisms are associated with adhesion promotion, two primary factors predominately influence the adhesion of any type of polymer to another substrate: chemical surface-to-surface interaction at the molecular level, and the wettability of the adhesive so as to enable surface spreading. Adhesion values can also be influenced by the matrix, or vehicle, that enables surface wet-out.