FLAME TREATMENT

During flame treatment, the surface of the substrate (mainly made of polypropylene) is prepared for adhesive application or for the subsequent laminating process by means of thermal treatment. The surface tension and surface energy of a material are decisive for the adhesion between the carrier part and the decorative material. Adhesion problems can arise at surface tensions below 36 dyn (millinewtons per meter).

The main advantage of the flame treatment process compared to the plasma process is that large web widths can be realized and thus a low cycle time is achieved. Compared with the corona high-voltage process, surface treatment by flame treatment involves only a very low risk of burns on the substrate (no sparking) and no special protective housing is required.

In order to reduce the space requirement to the smallest possible level and to keep the capital expenditure low, the flame treatment and hotmelt adhesive spraying processes were combined in a single production step: in the compact combi-cell developed by 3CON, with only one robot and fully automated tool change. The process guarantees high process and quality stability.

The process can be integrated into