What Is Plasma Treatment?

The term “plasma treatment” refers to the use of an ionized gas (the 4th state of matter in which gas molecules come apart and become intensely reactive) at either low pressure or atmospheric pressure to either increase (make hydrophilic) or decrease (make hydrophobic) surface energy. Plasma treatment is commonly used as a surface preparation method prior to printing, bonding and coating substrate surfaces.

The predominate trend is the application  of atmospheric chemical (gas) plasma treating systems for continuous, in-line processing  on material surfaces. These atmospheric plasma treatment (APT) systems generate an electrically charged atmosphere similar to corona or air plasma systems, but uses gas atmospheres in place of air to introduce a wide range of surface modifications to a substrate. The systems are characterized by their generation of high density reactive species for low temperature material processing. The APT  process can involve surface preparation via the breakdown of low molecular weight organic materials (LMWOM) and surface decontamination, fine etching of the surface to create greater surface area, grafting of new functional groups or chemical species on the surface, and the deposition of coatings on the surface. The treatment process is designed to allow the flexibility for changing gas chemistries for each application requirement. Check out www.plasmatreating.com, it’s a great educational resource.

These are great explanations - very technical in nature, however.

What I understand about plasma treatment (as it applies to the treatment of product surfaces) is that it improves plastic and metal for adhesion. Maybe it cleans the surface, maybe it etches the surface... Either way, it makes the surface more functional. There are TONS of industrial apps for plasma treatment - textiles, labeling, battery, circuit boards, flexible packaging, etc.

Also, I noticed that the comment above had a URL that wasn't hyperlinked... Thought I would share that here:

Plasma Treatment (www.plasmatreating.com)

Plasma treatment is a process that has numerous effects on the surface it has been applied and helping in the generation of radicals, in oxidising the surface of the material and in the edging of the surface are some of the applications. This technology is being used in several industrial applications and lately is has been used widely in the textile industry.

If you are using plasma treatment in textiles you can achieve hydrophilization and also the hydrophobization. It has other positive effects also like improvement in adhesion and the accumulation of the functional groups to the surface.

While performing plasma treatment care must be taken, otherwise it brings the detrimental action of the plasma towards the surface that can be very harmful for the fibre on which you are using it.