Surface treatment services: Plasma applications

Depending upon the type of gas or vapour that is employed in the plasma process it is possible to obtain different effects:

Plasma cleaning
plasma removes every organic contaminant from the surface leaving a surface cleaned on a molecular scale
Surface activation
employs a reactive gas (e.g. O2, N2) which creates different functional groups modifying the hydrophilicity and the biochemical reactivity of the polymer's surface plasma induced grafting employs inert gases (e.g. Ar,He) which remove some atomic species from the basic polymer generating reactive and cross-linked surfaces
Plasma deposition
some gases (e.g. Methane) can be plasma polymerised, coating the device's surface with a thin layer of a different polymer

	Plasma of different gases show different colours

One of the most used applications of the COLD PLASMA technology is the modification of the wettability of the polymers. Polymers usually show an unwettable surface (contact angle > 90¡). This property means that, whenever we need to have a good adhesion of anything to the surface, we encounter a poor response and we need to treat the surface in order to have an acceptable behaviour. Examples of application where a good wettability is important are, for example:

adhesion of biological molecules binding proteins for immunoassays application -
Tissue Culture surfaces
glueing
inking
painting

Since every type of polymer shows different properties, the treatment must be studied and applied for the specific material, previously taking into consideration such features as :

the raw material
the shape of the part
the application

and therefore applying to the process the specific parameters:

TYPE OF GAS(ES)

TIME

POWER

and, after the treatment, testing the treated parts for

efficiency of the treatment
uniformity
durability of its effects during storage

and cooperating with the user in order to find the best treatment both for technical and economical features.
biomat studies, develops and applies surface treatments with its plasma reactor installed in its facility.

	Contact angle with water