Topic: Applied plasma technology in naval and vehicle construction - structural bonding, bonding metals, plasma in shipbuilding, durable joints

Naval and Vehicle Construction: Openair® plasma in shipbuilding and automotive engineering

Durable joints and coatings

In shipbuilding and automotive engineering different materials such as plastics, metals, foams or insulants are processed together. Not all materials can be well and durably joined together or be equally well provided with a coating. Here Openair® plasma technology pretreatment provides a very simple and versatile process that fulfils the very different requirements of the various starting materials.

Openair® plasma pretreatment for adhesively bonding cooling elements in vehicle construction	Use of Openair® plasma in shipbuilding

Clean and efficient structural bonding

Modern refrigeration equipment in trucks today is adhesively bonded throughout in order to guarantee higher inherent strength and better durability of the joints at lower production costs. As a result the vehicle construction industry is one of the biggest customers for structural adhesives.

Accordingly, the requirements imposed on adhesive joints are high and can only be met by reliable and reproducible pretreatment. In this field treatment with Openair® plasma has successfully replaced conventional pretreatment consisting of mechanical scoring and activation with solvents which pollute the environment.

Plasma treatment only over small areas?

Only internal treatment with Openair® plasma over vast areas makes a special LNG supertanker really leakproof and makes the launching ceremony possible. The natural gas liquefied at -163 °C must not come into contact with the outer steel membrane of the tanker at any point, as otherwise it would become brittle and shatter like glass. In order to achieve 100 % leakproofing the very stable sealing foils used for insulation are pretreated by Openair® plasma and adhesively bonded directly in situ when cladding the tank chambers.