capabilities

Bixby can apply various SURFACE TREATMENTS to our film, sheet and laminations to enhance downstream bonding, printing, painting, coating, and/or lamination integrity. The corona, flame & plasma treatments effectively clean the material surface by burning off dirt, dust and low MW contaminants which thereby improves bond strength. The choice of surface treatment is dependent on the materials used, desired effect and choice of substrate. Speak to one of our experts today about which treatment is best for your project!

CORONA

The CORONA TREATMENT process actually changes the surface energy of a given material. During this process, a low-temperature corona discharge plasma is created by applying high voltage to a sharp tipped electrode. Multiple electrodes, arranged in a linear format, create a plasma curtain for the material to pass through. Since all materials have an inherent surface energy, this process can be used on virtually any material and increases the bonding capabilities for sometimes difficult to bond materials. At Bixby, we can apply a corona treatment to any width master rolls or slit rolls produced in our processes.

PLASMA

PLASMA TREATMENT is similar to corona treatment in a number of ways. However, with a plasma treatment, the corona plasma is injected with gases to modify the reaction with the material. Since some materials do not respond as well to the corona treatment, this added plasma application further aids to the surface treatment and adhesion by adding a specific functional group to react to specified materials being bonded. Bixby can treat any products made in our coextrusion process up to 36” in width.

FLAME

During the FLAME TREATMENT process, a gas flame is applied to the surface of a material in order to improve adhesion capabilities. Materials pass in front or under a rowed arrangement of flames which make momentary contact with the material surface. This quick interaction allows the heat to break the long-chain molecules of the material surface and replace those with polar functional groups before the material can begin to melt. The result is a surface with polar charged particles which can more easily adhere to another input or substrate. This is especially useful for materials such as polyolefins since they are made up of many long non-polar molecules. By comparison, flame treatment is faster than the corona treatment but lacks the versatility of corona. This process can only be applied to products made in our coextrusion process up to 36” in width.

PRIMING / COATING

In projects where otherwise incompatible materials are utilized in extrusion, priming may offer a solution to improve the extrusion process and adhesion to the substrate(s). Bixby can work with a variety of extrusion coating primers dependent on the required materials and desired results. Through this process we can treat any width master rolls or slit rolls produced in our processes utilizing hot-melt or moisture-cured tie layers.

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