Flame Plasma Treatment - A Viable Alternative to Corona Treatment, 1995 Polymers, Laminations & Coatings Conference Proceedings

Joseph DiGiacomo & James Pzezuto

Flynn Burner Corporation

The dominant technologies for increasing the surface energy of polymer substrates and cleaning the surface of the aluminum are corona treatment and chemical priming of the surface. Both of these methods have inherent limitations which will be discussed. Flame plasma technology has been applied over the years with inconsistent results. With an increasing understanding and control over those parameters which affect the treatments, as well as refined theories regarding the mechanism of flame plasma surface treatment, a flame plasma surface treating system has been developed which yields surface treatment with higher surface energies on a consistent and reproducible basis. The parameters which affect surface treatment as well as the underlying theory will be presented. In addition, a newly developed burner, with a unique ribbon design and superior heat transfer coefficient has been developed which provides an extremely uniform evenly distributed flame plasma with a high mass flow rate without structural distortion of the burner. The most significant treatment parameter is air/gas ratio control. This paper will describe a unique control scheme which automatically compensates for changes in ambient air temperature and humidity as well as seasonal variations in gas composition. Other flame plasma treatment parameters will be described and methods to maximize these parameters will be discussed. System components, control and logic strategies will be presented An on line dyne measuring control system, currently under development will be described.