Durable adhesion with PT-Bond

PT-Bond is a special nanolayer created with our PlasmaPlus^® technology to achieve functionalized surfaces. When PT-Bond is used, a gaseous precursor is injected into the plasma beam that is generated under atmospheric pressure (i.e., under normal conditions). The substrate is coated with an ultra-thin, transparent plasma-polymer layer, which serves as a bonding agent.

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Plastics Glass Metal

AEC Illuminazione Srl -
Pre-treatment of glass and stainless steel for street lamps

This video shows the following benefits of the PlasmaPlus^® treatment:

Automation of the complete bonding process
Replacing primers
High process speed, no drying time, no solvents
Cost reduction: Enables replacement of several preformed gasket types with one PUR-FIPG (polyurethane formed-in-place gasket)

Resistant adhesion of plastics with PT-Bond

The VOC-free PT-Bond plasma technology can replace nearly all water- and solvent-based primers during the preparation of surfaces in industrial production.

Plastic adhesion must fulfill certain requirements for it to be better than mechanical bonding: The durability of the bond must be guaranteed and the strict process requirements observed (DIN 2304).

From problem to solution

Depending on the plastic used, the surface energy varies and pretreatment alone is not sufficient to achieve high adhesion. In addition, some additives can have negative effects in combination with the adhesive. Insufficient wetting of the plastic surface with the adhesive can also lead to adhesion problems.

Plasmatreat solves this adhesion problem by using the PlasmaPlus^® technology, which applies the PT-Bond plasmapolymer layer on difficult-to-bond plastics.
The bifunctional PT-Bond layer provides an adhesion promoting to both the plastic and the adhesive.

Gluing glass safely with PT-Bond

When aesthetics and robustness are the priority, glass is the preferred material; however, the chemical resistance of glass makes it very hard to glue without using a special primer.
This is why, when applying a primer as a bonding agent, it is important to avoid contamination caused by overspraying in the visible area by masking.

Over the years, glass bonds must withstand forces caused by uneven thermal expansion coefficients. Force-transmitting adhesives such as STPU, PU, or SM polymers do not stick without a bonding agent or do so poorly.

The PT-Bond coating maximizes the durability of adhesives on glass. The fracture pattern is always cohesive: The bond is stronger than the adhesive itself – even when subject to extreme loads.

The introduction of the PlasmaPlus^® polymerization system in automotive windshield bonding replaces the entire wet chemi-cal pretreatment. The first step is microfine cleaning and high activation of the ceramic screen print by plasma rotary nozzles. Immediately afterwards the nanofine PlasmaPlus^® coating is applied and, as the final step, the adhesive is applied. This process optimization not only reduces costs, since a signifi-cantly lower amount of material is required for the nano-thin adhesive layer, but also because the process can be fully automated.

Durable metal bonding with PT-Bond

Hybrid bonds with metals may prove to be challenging, since many adhesives are adequate for one of the materials but unsuitable for the other. Pretreating the surface with PT-Bond improves the strength of the adhesive and ensures a durable and stable bond. Unlike conventional primer application, the application of PT-Bond also allows seamless integration into production processes, which is characterized, for example, by complete automation and eliminated drying times.

Criteria such as resistance in comparison with mechanical loads at different temperatures, changing weather conditions or even contact with solvents and other chemicals, are decisive for the adhesive bond.

Due to the constantly advancing development of material combinations, e.g. in lightweight construction, there are always new requirements being placed on force-transmitting adhesives that do not bond or bond poorly without adhesion promoters.

Plasmatreat solves these adhesion problems by using the PlasmaPlus^® technology to apply a plasmapolymer layer of PT-Bond to metal. This results in durable and strong metal bonds without primer that also prevent corrosion, also with challenging bonds.

The PT-Bond layer acts as a bond-promoter both with the substrate and with the adhesive.