Germany-based Relyon Plasma has developed what it is claiming as the world’s smallest handheld plasma treatment device.

The new piezobrush PZ3 features Reylon’s proprietary piezoelectric direct discharge (PDD) technology. Typical industrial applications for PDD technology include surface activation to optimise wetting and adhesion properties of plastics, such as for printing, painting and bonding processes. As well as activating and functionalising plastics, metals and natural minerals, the process cleans surfaces.

piezobrush PZ3 has been designed as a compact handheld plasma treatment device for easy and mobile use in laboratories, pre-development and assembly of small series. With a maximum power consumption of 18W, PDD is used to generate cold active plasma at a temperature of less than 50 degrees C. With minimal temperature impact on the material during surface treatment with cold atmospheric pressure plasma, this virtually eliminates the risk of over-treatment of materials such as plastics, according to Reylon.

Reylon Plasma is a subsidiary of TDK Electronics, and at the heart of piezobrush PZ3 is the TDK CeraPlas plasma generator, a high-voltage discharge component for plasma generation. It transforms a low input voltage in such a way that very high electric field strengths are generated, which dissociate and ionise the surrounding air. The compact design of PDD technology makes it possible to integrate atmospheric pressure plasma into a handheld device.

Two modules are currently available for the piezobrush PZ3, with the standard model suitable for non-conductive materials such as plastics, glass, ceramics or natural materials (organic fibers, textiles, leather). The near-field module is designed for the treatment of conductive materials such as metals, CFRP, lead glass or conductive plastics. An increased maximum power allows a treatment speed of five square centimetres a second, and a treatment width of up to 29mm. Even on materials that are very difficult to treat, such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), a surface energy of 72 mN/m can be achieved after plasma treatment.

The piezobrush PZ3 features integrated process control, and is equipped with various functions, such as a stopwatch to measure the time, a countdown function to set the time with automatic switch-off function, and power setting to adjust the plasma intensity.

Read more on the role of surface treatment and preparation in the next issue of Digital Labels & Packaging; register here to receive it