METAPLAST
- Start of the project : 01-07-17
- End of project : 31-12-19
Metallisation of plastics and composites using innovative atmospheric plasma technologies.
The METAPLAST project was dedicated to the study of innovative and environmentally friendly plasma-based technologies for the deposition of metallic layers on polymer and composite surfaces at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature.
Two technical approaches were studied in the framework of METAPLAST to replace the chemical pretreatment of polymer surfaces prior to their metallization by a dry and environmentally friendly atmospheric pressure plasma process.
The arc-shaped pulsed atmospheric pressure plasma process allows a technically simple and cost-effective infection of polymer surfaces with catalytic palladium nanoparticles prior to electroless plating. This one-step atmospheric pressure plasma process is dry, inline-capable and thus offers a feasible alternative to conventional multi-step wet chemical pretreatments. In addition, the technical approach studied allows local metallization of different types of polymers, depending on the technical and design requirements of the target products. The plasma torch-based process produces the metal layers directly from metal powders with a low melting point (e.g. copper, tin, zinc). Depending on the application, this can be a final coating or a basis for metallization (e.g. by electroplating).
Objectives and missions of Materia Nova
Within the consortium, Materia Nova developed the metallization application using a new torch technology (ion-jet) and the validation by galvanic rework.