On the 17th October 2007 CSMA are holding an educational day to highlight the activities of ACTECO, an EU sponsored public project tasked with investigating the use of plasmas for the surface treatment of commercial and technical textiles, food packaging and biomedical materials.
Plasmas have some potential advantages over traditional wet chemical methods:
- reduced usage of water, solvents and chemicals (including toxic compounds)
- reduced waste and hazardous products
- reduced energy and raw material consumption
- controllable highly specific reactions for tailored surface engineering.
The day is designed to raise awareness of the use of plasma technologies across all industries. In addition, the day will also discuss analytical techniques for surface/coating characterisation. Such techniques can be used for both plasma and wet chemical treatments; e.g. for assessment and optimisation of treatment conditions, evaluation of coating durability (e.g. washing, sterilisation, ageing), contamination (e.g. packaging).
The day should be of interest to researchers, manufacturers and product suppliers who have an interest in coatings such as hydrophilic, hydrophobic (e.g. water-repellent), oleophobic (e.g. oil/stain repellent), anti-fouling, anti-microbial and barrier (e.g. to oxygen).
The current programme
- 9.45 Introduction by Dr Chris Pickles (Managing Director, CSMA).
- 9.50 Plasma Fundamentals by Dr Hubert Rauscher (JRC, Italy).
- 10.30 Eco-Design by Dr Massimo Perucca (Envipark, Italy).
- 11.10 Break.
- 11.25 Introduction to Techniques for Surface/Coating Characterisation by Dr Tran Minh Duc (Biophy, France).
- 12.05 Applications of Plasma Technology in Food Packaging by Dr Joachim Schneider (IPF, Germany).
- 12.45 Lunch & Optional Lab Tours.
- 14.00 Surface Treatments for Biomedical Materials (Implants & Devices). Dr Rosy Eloy (Biomatech, France).
- 14.40 Invited Speaker.
- 15.20 Break.
- 15:35 Hydrophilic, Hydrophobic and Oleophobic Treatments for the Textiles Sector. Dr Claudine Colin (DHJ International, France).
- 16.05 Application of XPS and ToFSIMS for the Evaluation of Anti-Bacterial Coatings on Textiles by Dr Alan J. Paul (CSMA, UK).
- 16:40 Close of Meeting by Dr Chris Pickles.
For further information please contact Justine Bentley, e-mail justinebentley@csma.ltd.uk
Posted August 9th, 2007
