Atmospheric Pressure Plasma in Industrial Applications: Surface treatment of thermally sensitive polymers

Abstract For several years now, atmospheric pressure plasma has been discussed as a future technology. It is a key technology with a long and successful past. For many decades, corona treatment has been an atmospheric pressure plasma application, well established within the extrusion and converting industry. Corona technology has been applied in industrial use since the 1950s, mostly within converting polymer films and to some degree paper, board, and metal foil. Corona treatment is used to improve the adhesion of printing inks, lacquers, adhesives, and coatings. From this strong base, atmospheric pressure plasma is growing into new applications. This paper introduces atmospheric pressure plasma basics and compares modern atmospheric pressure plasma technologies for grafting chemical functional groups on polymer surfaces.