Industrial atmospheric plasma treatment of plastic before painting

Pre-treatment is required prior to painting of plastics to ensure adhesion. Several different types of techniques are used and often in combinations. These are usually time and cost intensive and some space consuming. The aim of the project is to find relevant replacement processes with atmospheric plasma, which has only been implemented internationally in a few cases.

The project’s main contributions are industrially relevant and evaluated technical concepts for plasma treatment of plastic prior to painting based on the needs of project partners, a new concept for repainting (production defects), deeper knowledge of variations in technical results between type of materials, paints and equipment, as well as a digital twin and a completely unique simulation tool to support design and efficient implementation of robotic plasma processing.

The intention is that the, companies will gain knowledge of the processes to be able to make decisions about the possibilities of implementing atmospheric plasma as a pre-treatment of plastic before painting as a more sustainable alternative to today’s wet chemical processes. This should be applicable to different products, industries, and complexities. The project contributes to Sustainable Production’s areas and FFI’s roadmaps mainly through:

• Improved working environment and reduced water, energy and chemical consumption, V OC emissions, CO2 eq, defects, production waste, costs and need for repainting
• Robust, fast, compact, flexible, and repeatable plasma treatment with associated simulation tools and digital twin

Collaboration within the Surface treatment Cluster, between industries, suppliers, research organizations, within networks and internationally connected environments