Inline Plasma Systems
Inline plasma equipment we carry
What is inline plasma?
A continuous supply of energy on the surface of matter results in an overall temperature increase in the material, changing its state from solid to liquid to a gaseous state.
Continued energy supply further results in the disintegration of the atomic shell into its constituent charged particles, i.e., positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons.
This mixture is known as Plasma. Artificially created Plasma is known as inline Plasma. It has a wide industrial application, such as alternating the surface property of a material to make it easier for painting, glueing, and bonding.
By treating parts with inline Plasma, it becomes easier to activate the surface, clean, and improve the adhesion properties of the material surface.
Inline Plasma has a wide industrial application, especially when combining materials or altering their surface characteristics.
Types of inline plasma systems
A plasma system is a technology used to perform industrial plasma treatment.
The system comprises a plasma generator that is made of various specialized units.
These parts include power supplying lines, the process gas chamber for generating Plasma, and an electric control unit.
A plasma generator comprises a high-frequency generator made up of a vacuum system and a pressure-tight chamber.
The plasma process to be carried out determines the type of plasma generator used—for example, high-frequency electrodes or a magnetron for excitation through microwave radiation.
A typical plasma system comprises the following parts but is not limited to; Control valves, pressure sensors, electrical shields, exhaust filters, product carriers, and a polymer evaporator.
Depending on the intended purpose of an inline plasma system, there are two types of plasma systems, namely the atmospheric plasma system and the low-pressure plasma system.
Low-pressure Plasma
In a low-pressure plasma system, the gas is excited by a continuous supply of energy in the vacuum chamber.
The result is the disintegration of gas molecules into electrons, energetic ions, and other super reactive particles as part of the Plasma.
Atmospheric pressure plasma
When it comes to atmospheric plasma systems, the gas is excited using the high voltage at the room atmospheric pressure resulting in a huge plasma ignition.
The ignited Plasma is then expelled through the nozzle by a compressed air system.
Inline plasma uses and applications
Inline Plasma technology has many industrial uses and applications such in microelectronics, automotive, packaging, cleaning, and medical device industries.
Like solid, liquid, and gas, Plasma is a state of matter. Matter changes its state when energy is either added or removed.
For example, when enough heat energy is continuously added to liquid water, it changes into steam. The gas molecules get ionized to carry a positive charge if heat energy is continuously added.
This, in turn, affects the overall electrical property of the system to the extent that it changes into a plasma.
A plasma comprises neutral molecules, negative electrons, positive ions, excited molecules, and UV light. These particles do possess a huge amount of internal energy.
Some or all of the particles mentioned above will interact with the surface being treated during the plasma treatment process.
By controlling the gas mixture, atmospheric pressure, amount of energy, and other variable factors.
Plasma treatment is mostly applied in cleaning, producing a thin coating, and enhancing the surface adhesion qualities of a material.
Cleaning
Inline plasma cleaning is 100% effective in eliminating grease and oils on a surface down to a zero scale.
It is also used to reduce various contamination risks since it is more effective than any other conventional cleaning process.
The plasma cleaning process results in a spotless surface ideal for bonding or further processing without producing unwanted or damaging waste materials.
This is because the UV light in the Plasma is extremely efficient at disintegrating the organic bonds, such as those from greases and oils on the surface of the material being cleaned.
Surface Activation
Technically, many polymer surfaces are inert, which means they do not form an active bond with other materials such as glues and paints.
However, this challenge can be overcome by attaching a polar molecular group to the Plasma surface. Inline plasma activation increases a polymer’s surface adherence.
This means that plasma surface activation makes the surface of a polymer more receptive to bonding agents and coatings.
Oxygen is the most commonly used gas, although advanced inline plasma activation systems can use ambient air.
After activation, the surface can remain in that altered state for months, depending on the polymer material used.
Coating
An inline plasma coating process creates a Nanoscale polymer coating layer over the object’s surface.
The process takes only a few minutes to create a very thin coating layer(less than 1/100th a human hair width).
This layer is attached to the polymer’s atomic scale, thus producing a very clear, odourless, undetectable surface coating.
Get quote for inline plasma equipment
Need reflow oven equipment for your operations? Drop us an enquiry with your requirements and we’ll get back to you with recommended options and cost estimates. Contact us now.