Low Friction Coatings
Ease bulk handling of parts.
Reduce wear of seals etc.
Ease the use of medical implants.
Modified surfaces on Elastomers
One of the most common applications is for elastomers such as O rings and seals.
Such items need to be plasma cleaned to ensure that no trace of production additives or release agents remain as even minute traces of Silicon can cause problems.
The elastomers used have a naturally sticky surface which is undesirable in automated production process. This property causes problems especially in automated sorting and feeding processes.
An Ultra-thin coating in the nano range, usually of carbon, prevents this by providing an low friction surface making the seals easy to handle.
Medical implants and equipment
The advancements in Pin hole surgery make it necessary to have low friction sterile components.
A field where plasma surface modification is ideally suited as the components can be cleaned, sterilized, and have reduced friction surfaces applied in a single process step.
As this is a dry process there are no unwanted residues on the product.