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Challenges

How to treat PE foam thicker than 3 mm, double side, for adhesive tape, width 1600 mm, speed 20 – 50 m/min

Challenge:  

treatment of PE foam thicker than 3 mm, double side, for adhesive tape, width 1600 mm, speed 20 – 50 m/min,

Solution:

EDGE, because EDGE works with low voltages, i.e. comparatively „gentler“ than a classic corona, so there is no burns / damage to the edges of the material and no punctures through the material. The thickness of the material is not relevant, this means even very thick material can be treated effectively.

The pretreatment of polymer foams has long been characterised by costly and ecologically not harmless fluorination. The advantages of a corona treatment, which has been established in the field of thin plastic films for many decades, have not yet been fully transferred to foams.
With EDGE, the functionalization effect of corona treatment can now also be used for foams, so that fluorination can be dispensed with in many areas.

With EDGE processes from Plasmawerk, the long-established advantages of the corona technique can be applied to a wide variety of materials of any thickness, such as the treatment of foams. With EDGE, there is no danger of localized preferential discharges in open-pore foams and closed-pore foams are not perforated or damaged at the edges of the material. The high efficiency of the plasma source, i.e. the low power required, also enables the treatment of thermally very sensitive materials.

EDGE systems can easily be integrated into various extrusion and finishing lines, treatment widths up to 3000 mm are available as standard and high web speeds are no obstacle to making the economics of corona treatment available for polymer foams.