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INLINE FUNCTIONAL COATING OF SURFACES VIA PLASMA CVD AT ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

R.A. Wolf, Enercon Industries Corporation, Menomonee Falls, WI
R.E. Ellwanger, Sigma Technologies Int’l Inc., Tucson, AZ

Plasma-enhanced deposition of functional coatings is an established route for adding value to a variety of commercial web-based substrates without the need for solvents, surfactants, or drying ovens. However, such processes have historically been performed in the high-vacuum environment and have therefore required vacuum pumps and high capital cost infrastructure. A Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) process is now proposed that will operate at atmospheric pressure and commercial line speeds. By combining Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge (APGD) technology with a unique precursor delivery system, Enercon Industries and Sigma Technologies have developed a new coatings approach that will be capable of adding high performance coatings to a variety of commercial substrates including nonwovens, wovens, yarns, films, papers, foils, and powders. The system is capable of introducing gaseous and liquid CVD precursors into the plasma region where they promptly undergo polymerization due to the high concentration of free radicals and other active species on the deposition substrate surface. The resulting polymer coatings may either raise or lower surface energy and have been deposited from about 30 nm to several microns in thickness. In the current presentation we discuss recent advances in the process and some of the properties of the new coatings.