Foams can be difficult to surface treat for adherence to other materials. Manufacturers use a variety of thermoplastic and thermoset resins, resulting in foams either having a high resident surface energy or low surface energy. Foams manufactured of low surface tension polyolefins require surface treatment when applying adhesives foams, in order for it to penetrate into the foam structure.
It is critical that foam be pre-treated to raise the surface energy. Enercon’s Plasma3™ is an inline atmospheric plasma surface treating solution that micro-rough and functionalized the surface to allow the adhesives to mechanically and chemically bond to the surface. Once the surface tension of foams is sufficiently raised, adhesives can more effectively wet and bond to the foam.