Low-pressure plasmas have been used for many years to surface treat polymer films, nonwovens and coated substrates.The complexity, slow speed and high cost of these contained plasma systems made them impractical for all but the mostesoteric applications. This paper covers a new and improved system that allows plasmas to be sustained at atmosphericpressure in a way that permits the surface treatment of coated or uncoated nonwoven products on a continuous webhandling system similar to a corona treating system. The Atmospheric Plasma Treatment*(APT) process allows treatmentusing a broad range of reactive gases and has been successfully tested on various nonwoven fabrics. Further, dependingupon the dyne level required and type of nonwoven material, line speeds in excess of 200 fpm are practical and up to500 fpm have been achieved. Specialty applications requiring stringent surface morphology specifications, specificsurface modification such as hydrophilicity and hydropobocity, precise surface coating or tightly controlled electricalcharacteristics will find the APT system especially attractive and useful. A particular solution provided by the APTsystem of significant importance to the nonwovens industry and described in this paper is enhanced wettability forprinting with water-based inks.
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