Nearly all materials can be metallized and coated energy-efficiently and without solvents through the use of a patented technology that works via a combination of cold active plasma and micro- or nanoparticles. Reinhausen Plasma GmbH (Regensburg, Germany) developed the nanopowder plasma deposition technology, called plasmadust for short, to allow environmentally friendly direct coating without chemicals, and to produce coatings free of volatile organic compounds. Owing to the low-temperature melting points of the coating powders, the coating process can be carried out at ambient pressures; thus, the technology consumes much less power than thermal injection processes require.
The use of cold active plasma sources additionally contributes to the system’s energy efficiency. Gas temperature does not exceed 70°C under atmospheric pressure. Thus, temperature-sensitive plastic, metal, glass, foil substrates and silicon disks and parts made from unusual material combinations can be processed by means of this system. Both continuous and structured coatings in a variety of nanopowders can be deposited in a layer as thin as 1 µm precisely and efficiently. Adhesion to two- and three-dimensional parts is very good. Processing speeds up to 150 m/min are possible.
Boeing
This is nothing less than a revolution of coating technology claims Rheinhausen. Plasmadust™, their innovation, makes direct coating processes with metals possible for the very first time without solvents (VOC-free) and thus environmentally friendly. The result is precisely structured layers with very good durability, temperature resistance and good adhesion to temperature-sensitive surfaces. The ingredients are fed to the plasma gas in powder form. Continuous feeding of the powder particles into the plasma is part of the plasmadust™ technology.
The system technology offers maximum standards of safety and quality. The computer-supported process control is as precise as required. It permits high automated reproducibility so that layers can be applied homogeneously and without many pores. If necessary, also only partially. Even 3-D objects can be easily coated. All process parameters can be coordinated for the particular application.
The cold active atmospheric pressure device — plasmabrush ® — is used for the plasmadust™ coating process. Here the gas plasma is created according to the inverter principle with a highly effective, pulsed arcing discharge and not by an oscillating circuit.
The plasmadust™ technology allows coating processes with metal, polymers or semi-conductor layers on a wide variety of basic substrates such as paper, cardboard, textiles, ceramics, glass, metal, and polymers (PE, PP, ABS, PTFE, etc).
The special feature of the technology is its low temperature (in comparison to other processes such as, for example, plasma/flame spraying) and the slow particle speed (in comparison to other procedures such as, for example, plasma spraying and cold gas spraying). Continuous layers can be generated in this way on thin, temperature-sensitive substrates. Due to their physical properties they are well suited to many application areas.
A video of the plasmadust™ technology is available.
