An automotive supplier seeks a superior solution for adhesive bonding
For manufacturers in the automotive industry, it’s a race to evolve faster than the competition. Their production processes must continually get faster, better, and greener in order to compete in today’s market.
One supplier of a cutting-edge product that helps to power semi-trucks came to APS with a perplexing problem. At a critical stage in the production line there was a bonding issue where rubber gaskets were being applied to components made of high strength alloys and aluminum. Too many gaskets were failing to adhere properly to the target areas. All the traditional methods that had been tried were not solving the problem.
Previously, this customer was using chemicals to clean and prepare the metal surfaces for adhesion. Additionally, by using this traditional adhesion promoter method, there was no precise way of to fix mistakes once the gaskets had been applied—so faulty products had to be removed from the line, disassembled, and stripped of all rubber residue before going through the whole process again. If these attempts failed or the substrate was damaged during the rework process, the product had to be scrapped.
This process of salvaging defective parts was labor-intensive and inefficient, requiring five rework stations where employees manually removed rubber from the metal—which increased the risk of damaging the substrates. Another major disadvantage of their existing surface cleaning system was that quality control suffered as unclean or damaged products made their way into the production line following the rework, which required an additional step for inspection. Finally, the customer was burdened with fees to recycle the discarded metal, as well as disposal costs for the harsh chemicals used in surface preparation.
After researching potential solutions online, a senior engineer at the company reached out to Vince Pannucci, Director of Commercial Sales and Business Development at APS, to explore how open air plasma technology might work for them. Following a period of evaluation and testing supported by APS, the customer purchased multiple Plionyx systems, taking advantage of atmospheric plasma technology to achieve higher quality control for both production and rework stations. APS provided hands-on training and consulting as needed throughout the integration of this automated system.
APS is currently providing a superior “3-in-1” solution (Remove-Clean-Prepare) with two systems that work in tandem to resolve the bonding issues fulfill the customer’s requirements. First, an automated system utilizes robotics to clean and pre-treat the metal surfaces with plasma—without moving them off of the assembly line to do so. Since atmospheric plasma-treated surfaces have 6-10x better adhesion strength compared to traditional surface preparation methods such as solvent washes or grit-blasting, the customer is having dramatically fewer issues with rubber gaskets adhering to the metal surface of these products.
In addition to this automated system on the front end of the gasketing process, Plionyx is also playing a vital role near the finish line. Rather than having five manual rework stations, there is now just a single, automated rework station where operators can use a plasma pen to quickly, easily, and precisely “vaporize” all traces of rubber from flawed products. This allows the company to reclaim virtually any component that would have previously been discarded and retool it into a marketable product.
Top Customer Wins:
- Greater production efficiency: New process minimizes the number of flawed/unsellable products; Jaw-dropping time and labor savings with an automated re-work station producing significantly higher quality control.
- Reduced environmental impact: No more need for harsh chemicals; Smaller volume of recycled/scrap products.
- Cost savings: No more expensive chemicals used in the pre-treat process; Also eliminated cost of hazardous chemical disposal.
Based on the success of this solution so far, the customer intends to expand the use of Plionyx technology at this facility as well as other locations across the globe in the future.
Do you need a solution to achieve better bonding results? Let Plionyx help your manufacturing application thrive in a fast and furious market with plasma surface treatment technology that gets results. Contact APS to learn more.
