Dow Corning licenses APPLD Freudenberg for technical textiles
US-based Dow Corning’s Plasma Solutions group, a subsidiary of silicones supplier Dow Corning Corporation, has licensed its atmospheric pressure plasma liquid deposition (APPLD) technology for commercial coating on one of its SE-1000 AP4 systems to Germany-based company Freudenberg Forschungsdienste KG.
Freudenberg has been co-developing plasma-coated products and manufacturing processes with Dow Corning for several and is now ready to start commercially producing a variety of APPLD-processed products for flexible substrates such as technical textiles and polymer films.
The collaboration between the two companies aims to promote the commercial use of APPLD technology in the European market.
The technology allows users to engineer the surface of virtually any substrate by applying extremely thin coatings of various materials that chemically bond to the underlying substrate. Coatings can have a wide range of characteristics, such as waterproofing, low-friction slickness, adhesion promotion or antimicrobial properties. The energy-efficient APPLD process operates at near room temperature, uses no water, solvents or surfactants, and has negligible waste disposal and recycling requirements.
