For battery housings, an ideal solutions for automated and integrated ultrafine cleaning with corrosion protection are Plasmatreat’s Openair-Plasma and PlasmaPlus.
Surface treatment with atmospheric plasma technology is the environmentally friendly and efficient alternative to conventional cleaning methods for companies. In applications such as in the automotive industry, electric mobility or electronics, Plasmatreat GmbH’s Openair-Plasma and PlasmaPlus replace wet chemical processes such as electroplating. The innovative plasma technology can be used to finely clean the surfaces of various metals and alloys, such as aluminum, and apply wafer-thin coatings to prepare them for further processing.
Anti-corrosion protection
When considering a battery housing enclosed by a lid, it is necessary to equip it with a reliable anti-corrosion layer. The requirements in this area are very high since batteries are often mounted on the floor of the vehicle. In this critical area, the battery is exposed to water spray, snow and road salt, which can be very aggressive to the battery. If moisture gets into the housing and cells, the functionality of the battery is compromised and, in the worst case, a fire can occur. That is why absolute sealing is a must. Liquid seals or, more recently, solid seals that allow the housing to be opened for repairs are used for this purpose. Plasma treatment promotes reliable sealing: after cleaning the sealing point with Openair-Plasma, the edge of the housing receives the PlasmaPlus AntiCorr coating for active corrosion protection. The AntiCorr coating, on the other hand, allows corrosion protection to be applied selectively, exactly where it is needed on the housing. The process is also much more environmentally friendly and, most importantly, dry, as it does not require chemical baths.
For cleaning various metal alloys
Plasma technology is based on a simple physical principle: the addition of energy changes the states of matter. When energy is added to a gas, such as air, it ionizes and enters the high-energy plasma state, known as the fourth state of matter. When plasma, with its high energy level, comes into contact with materials, their surface properties change, such as from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. Plasmatreat has made this effect technically usable on a large scale with normal compressed air and under atmospheric pressure conditions. It does this with atmospheric plasma equipment, the so-called Openair-Plasma, and has developed innovative solutions for numerous material problems, which have proven particularly effective in the processing of various metals and aluminum alloys, for example. Depending on the type of contamination on the metal surface or application, outdoor plasma systems use different process gases, such as compressed air or formation gas.
Protection without wet chemistry
Another process developed by Plasmatreat is used to treat metal substrates: the PlasmaPlus coating process. In this process, a functionalized surface with defined properties is created by nanocoating. A precursor is mixed with a carrier gas and forms a very thin layer on the surface. Plasmatreat uses various organic and inorganic groups for different precursors to treat metals and has developed highly effective PlasmaPlus coatings, including the PlasmaPlus AntiCorr process, which provides a high-performance anti-corrosion coating for housing gaskets and electronic components.
by Anne-Laureen Lauven
