Using plasma treatment to improve the adhesive bond strength of folding cartons produces remarkable results. Converters who integrate this technology into their lines have seen improvements in both hot-melt and cold-glue adhesive performance.

The improved performance often leads to improved production speeds and additional cost savings including the ability to use less expensive adhesives and the elimination of mechanical surface preparations such as glue flap roughening and perforating.

Atmospheric plasma produces these results by cleaning the surface of contaminants, micro-roughening the surface to create more bonding sites and functionalizing for adhesion. Key to the success is a blown-ion discharge that bombards the surface with a high speed discharge of ions. Positive ion bombardment facilitates a micro-etching or scrubbing (ablation) effect to remove (desorb) organic and inorganic contaminants from the surface.

Atmospheric plasma systems are safe to operate and easy to integrate into exisitng or new production lines. Click the following links for more information on a single head plasma treater for folding cartons and multiple treatment heads for improving adhesion for folder gluer carton applications.