Advantages of fluorination

A gentle process for excellent results

The surface treatment of plastics demonstrates best the advantages of fluorine technology.
With fluorine you can:

• treat virtually all plastic surfaces
• control processes easily and reproducibly
• achieve long-lasting pre-treatment and
• obtain excellent results without destroying the surface

Flaming and corona treatment of plastics:

Both processes damage the surface of the plastic being treated to a certain degree. This is due to the very high concentration of reactive components. The very intensive and aggressive oxidation of the plastic surface leads to the destruction of polymer chains. The activated surface layer becomes mechanically unstable and can easily become detached. The activation effect is lost after a short time and, in terms of process engineering, there is very little you can do about it.

Low-pressure plasmas:

In contrast to flaming and corona treatment, treatment in low-pressure plasma can also be used to modify a plastic surface. The essential disadvantage of low-pressure plasmas is the low process pressure, which can only be achieved with substantial investments in an industrial setting. The low process pressure also reduces the activation to the outermost layer of the plastic surface. Since the polymer chains of the plastic always exhibit a certain mobility, the activation effect is often lost after a short time.

Advantages of fluorine technology:

In contrast to the processes mentioned above, nearly all plastic surfaces can be pre-treated with fluorine. Since the activation takes place due to the reaction of the fluorine with the plastic and the reaction is inhibited by the presence of oxygen, the activation can be controlled and reproduced easily via the fluorine concentration. Films can be pre-treated, as can complex moulded surfaces. Since treatment takes place at close to normal pressure (=500 mbar), the fluorination also reaches deeper material layers. The pre-treatment effect is therefore long-lasting. The concentration of active species is very well balanced: on the one hand it is high enough to achieve an excellent activation effect, whilst on the other hand it is too low to damage the surface.