Japan: Plasmatreat at the N-Plas 2010
The booth team from Nihon Plasmatreat Inc. (Osaka). From left to right: Yasuhiko Tsurumoto, Koichi Takano and Hideto Niwa
The N-Plas 2010 in Tokyo opened its doors from 19 through to 21 May. Japan's latest event for the plastics industry was specifically targeting visitors from the automotive, the medical, the packaging and the solar industries. On an area of 5,400 square meters, the over 200 exhibitors welcomed more than 20,000 trade visitors.
In a simple and therefore all the more impressive demonstration, Yasuhiko Tsurumoto, CEO at Nihon Plasmatreat Inc. (Osaka), Hideto Niwa (Sales Manager) and Koichi Takano (Engineering) presented to the expert audience the strong adhesive effect on polypropylene after plasma treatment. A single RD2004 rotary jet, two PP plastic cards and a double-sided adhesive tape served as means of demonstration. While one of the two cards was pre-treated with Openair®-Plasma within the fraction of a second, the other one remained untreated. After both cards had been joined together in the sandwich method by means of the adhesive tape, the visitors were requested to separate the cards from one another. To everyone's surprise, the plasma-treated polypropylene could not be non-destructively detached from the adhesive tape in spite of the greatest of efforts whereas the untreated plastic material hardly put any resistance.
Not only did the swiftness of the Openair® process evoke further amazement, but especially the fact that the plasma-treated, say activated PP surface, did not exhibit any visible changes which would for example be the case after an abrasive process.
This technical demonstration initiated intensive talks in which the visitors, predominantly from the plastic foil, printing, packaging and injection moulding industries, brought forward their individual adhesion issues. Numerous companies accepted the offer extended from the plasma experts to send their components to the Plasmatreat Technology Center in Osaka for a trial treatment.
