Plasmatreat GmbH, the world's leading manufacturer and developer of atmospheric plasma technology and systems for surface pretreatment has reached another milestone in the company's history: the 10,000th plasma system has been sold, designed, manufactured and is already on its way to the customer. In addition to this milestone, the company from Steinhagen (near Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia) has already achieved a great deal: the company can look back on a rapid history of advancement. In a quarter of a century, the start-up has become the world market leader with subsidiaries, partners and customers around the globe. And the company continues to grow. An extension to the headquarters in Steinhagen is planned to double production capacity and soon have the next 10,000 systems in operation in the field. 

The 10,000th Plasmatreat system
"The 10,000th system is a great achievement for us, which we only managed as a team," says Christian Buske, CEO at Plasmatreat, who is proud of his company and its employees. "The system consists of a generator, an FG5001S, two static nozzles and one PCU (Plasma Control Unit) each and is already on its way to the customer, a university in the USA. Here, the system will be used in agricultural research to test how plasma treatment affects seed germination and plant health."  

In addition to the three components (generator, nozzle and PCU), only compressed air and electricity are required for plasma generation. After liquid, solid and gas, plasma is the fourth state of aggregation. When plasma with its high energy level comes into contact with materials, it changes the surface properties, e.g. from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. During the precision cleaning of e.g. metal and glass with Openair-Plasma from Plasmatreat, surfaces are gently and safely freed from dust, grease, release agents and additives. In the case of plastics, an increase in surface energy is brought about by so-called activation through the introduction of OH groups into the plastic surface. Thus, in both cases, an optimized wettability of the substrate surface can be achieved and the adhesion ability significantly increased. In this way, long-term stable adhesion of adhesives and coatings is achieved.

Plasmatreat always adapts to the requirements at its customers and their applications. The individual system components of Plasmatreat's plasma systems (nozzles, plasma control unit and generator) can be easily integrated into production lines, but can also be used stand-alone. These individual production cells with automation solutions, so-called PTUs (Plasma Treatment Units), are adapted to the customer's process engineering sequences and equipped with various handling options.  

Process reliability and reproducibility of plasma treatment was also an issue at Plasmatreat at an early stage. With the specially developed PCU (Plasma Control Unit), the company ensures that plasma treatment is also reproducible in the customer's process: with a variety of control, regulation and monitoring functions, e.g. the Plasma Power Module (PPM), which records current and voltage values directly at the nozzle head. The Light Control Module (LCM) continuously detects the generation of the plasma. In this way, Plasmatreat meets the requirements of Industry 4.0.

Plasmatreat - an excursion into history
Founded in 1995 in Steinhagen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Plasmatreat expands continuously from 2000 onwards: the first subsidiaries are established in North America, Asia and Europe. Over the next two decades, a worldwide network of subsidiaries is established, which continues to expand, among other things through the acquisition of competitors, e.g. in Great Britain and the USA. The research and development of the international group of companies takes place in technology centers in Germany, USA, Canada, China and Japan, including the Technology Center in Silicon Valley in Hayward, USA, which opened in 2017. Currently, Plasmatreat subsidiaries and representatives exist in more than 30 countries worldwide, including the most recent additions from 2020 and 2021, the branches in Diepoldsau, Switzerland, the Spanish capital Madrid and Gothenburg, Sweden. "With our global sales, service and partner network, we speak our customers' languages and can respond quickly to customer requirements and needs," Buske concludes. 

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