The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Pre treatment for plastics

I face problem of adhesion to metallized reflectors in ABS,PC. The reflectors are directly metallized after molding without any pretreatment or base coat.In peel off test the reflector fails in some areas only. I would like to know what is plasma treatment and how is it done?

Mahendra
- Nashik, Maha, INDIA
2002

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Plasma discharge is a process whereby a plasma is struck in a low vacuum. The vacuum is typically less than 250mT. The most useful gases for ABS and PC are oxygen, nitrous oxide or air. Suitable powers for polymer activation are in the order of 80-120W and processing times between 1 and 5 minutes, depending on the polymer.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2003