Surface treatment to prepare medical device components for printing or bonding may require complex cleaning methods or harmful chemicals. Plasma etching for improved adhesion, once limited to low-pressure chambers, is now available at atmospheric pressure.
Erhard Krampe, Plasmatreat
(Image courtesy of Plasmatreat)
Conventional methods of surface preparation, treatment and modification of medical devices made of PTFE, FEP and polyamide are usually expensive, harmful and very limited in their application range. Plasma treatment offers two processes as alternatives.
One operates with low-pressure plasma and enables surface pretreatment of a single or a large number of products in a batch process. In this case, a homogeneous treatment of the entire surface takes place in a low-pressure chamber. The other process allows for rapid, continuous treatment of a product within the production line under atmospheric pressure.
Both plasma processes use process gases that are converted into an excited state. The excited molecules, ions and free electrons interact on contact with surfaces such as rubber, metal, plastic or ceramic and change the surface chemistry.
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