Corona surface treatment replaces chemical treatment of sprayers
Safe Reflector is one of the largest manufacturers of light reflecting products and sprayers in Northern Europe. The company offers a wide range of pocket sprayers. Their selection of sanitizer sprayers inclu-des hand sprays and sun care, amongst others. But during the production of thousands of sprayers a day, the company faced challenges related to the adhesion of printings on the sprayers.
The challenge
Previously, the items were treated with chemical materials to improve their adhesion. This led to negative experiences for the end users. Chemical surface treatment can lead to unpleasant odors left on the final product. Safe Reflector was in urgent need of a new solution. After thorough research, they chose to invest in a Tantec Corona treater.
Tantec’s Corona system allowed for better and more environmentally friendly adhesion of printed inks on the sprayers, as well as an acceleration of the production process. These factors were critical in the decision to visit the Tantec test center to run sample tests.
”We had major challenges with the adhesion of digital print to our sprayers and were looking for a collaborator who could guide us to the right solution. After thorough research we found that Tantec should deliver a Corona treater to us”, says Tomas Radikas, Sales Manager, who, in addition to being pleased with Tantec as a collaborator, also can report better production efficiency.
The parts
The plastic part of the sprayers is made of polypropylene and is the standard size of a business card. The PP material is well known for having a low surface energy. Working with plastic material PP, you have already experienced the challenges low surface energy plastics present. It is impossible to achieve durable high-quality results in printing processes. These processes depend on high surface energy and to reach this, surface treatment is necessary.
Top and bottom surface treater
The custom-designed RotoTEC-X was built according to the customer’s requirements for their production line. This universal system developed by Tantec operates with patented rotating electrode elements resulting in a complete and uniform treatment of parts. These self-contained units can be installed within existing production lines or used as an off-line treating process.
The RotoTEC-X corona treater offers a cost-effective method for optimizing the adhesion properties of printing inks, coatings, glue, and paint on any surface made of polymer material including the commonly used polypropylene and polyethylene. RotoTEC-X can thus be used for treating plastic materials and plastic products.
Surface treatment with Plasma and Corona Treat-ment modifies the chemical structure in the surface of plastic materials and improves surface tension. The effect is uniform treatment, better adhesion and wettability properties with extended durability and the possibility to achieve high quality results in printing.
Plasma and corona cleaning
Cleaning with Plasma and Corona is very effective. Contaminated surfaces will create problems with
bonding, printing, and coating processes, but using plasma and corona technologies, you are ensured a clean surface.
Plasma and Corona Surface Treatment gives you the opportunity to work with low-cost materials and at the same time skip the use of expensive adhesives and chemicals. Furthermore, the fast treatment time brings your products faster to the next process.
Plastic and rubber materials such as polyolefins, EPDM-rubber, polyethylene (PE) Plexiglas (PMMA), poly-propylene (PP), Teflon (PTFE), polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), PVC, polyurethane (PUR), ABS, etc. are the most common materials that challenge our customers with poor adhesion and wettability properties due to low surface energy. Plasma and Corona surface treaters modify the surface using electrical discharges and provide high surface energy ready to corporate with glue, ink coating, and other substrates.
