Topic: Plasma treatment for coil coating. Cleaning of aluminum sheet materials. Removing rolling oils, hydrocarbons. Increasing hydrophilicity.
Plasma treatment for coil coating: removing hydrocarbons, increasing the hydrophilicity of aluminum
Using
Openair® plasma,
metals such as aluminum can be completely cleaned of unwanted
hydrocarbons, such as rolling oils, through the evaporation of
volatile components and oxidation to carbon dioxide and water.
To
investigate the cleaning
efficiency of Openair plasma treatment
on aluminum, the research company NanoCraft
used the very sensitive method of chemical force microscopy.
The probe tip was modified using nonpolar hydrocarbon compounds and the measurement was carried out with water as the imaging medium.
This
ensured detection of even the smallest impurities by their
interactions with the probe tip.
At
the same time, the surface tension of the material can be selectively
increased by
plasma
activation.
The increase in hydrophilicity is measurable; the adhesion of
coatings and finishes is greatly improved.
Chemically
modified atomic force microscopy:
Left: Adhesion distribution on aluminum without plasma treatment. Interaction with the probe tip: the surface is covered with oily impurities.
Right: Homogeneous adhesion distribution on aluminum after plasma treatment (hydrophilic). No interaction with the probe tip: the surface is free from oily impurities.
Left: Adhesion distribution on aluminum without plasma treatment. Interaction with the probe tip: the surface is covered with oily impurities.
Right: Homogeneous adhesion distribution on aluminum after plasma treatment (hydrophilic). No interaction with the probe tip: the surface is free from oily impurities.
Partners & References
Griesser AGWorld premiere: Openair plasma in coil coating
Griesser AG in Switzerland was the first company in the world to achieve environmentally-friendly pretreatment of aluminum strip using Openair® plasma, which avoids the generation of thousands of tons of contaminated waste water annually.
Partners & References
NanoCraftCoil coating – “very good” test results
As an independent research provider, NanoCraft examined the systems developed by Plasmatreat on behalf of our clients.
