Treating Syringe Hubs for Enhanced Bonding
Posted by Kevin Smith on Tue, Jan 31, 2012 @ 09:00 AM
I recently received a call about the best way to treat injection-molded syringe hubs with vacuum plasma to increase the adhesion of needles. This is a common application. Since it is critical that the needle remain adhered to the syringe hub during insertion and extraction, the maximum bond-strength between the steel needle and the plastic hub must be achieved.
A vacuum plasma process will accomplish two goals: make the hub hydrophilic (wettable), thus facilitating the flow of the liquid adhesive and will also graft functional groups onto the surface of the hub to encourage the formation of chemical bonds between the plastic and the adhesive being used (commonly a cyanoacrylate). Depending on the quantity of hubs being treated, the plasma treatment process may take place either on electrode shelves or in a tumbler unit installed inside the plasma reactor.
Reach out to our in-house experts to learn more about this application.