Flame Treatment

Flame Treatment is a method of chemically changing the surface molecular structure of a substrate in a controlled manner to:

> Increase "Surface Energy"
> Increase "Wettability", and therefore compatibility with coatings and materials

Flame treatment can be applied to any olefin based plastic or metallic component, like bumper fascias, body side moldings, wheel covers, air spoilers, air scoops, door handles, door panels, consoles, dashboards, post trims, and carpet backing.

Flame treatment of components has for years always been troublesome in a high volume production environment. As such the common choice of manufacturing plants has been either the use of Adhesion Promoting Primers or the use of Flame Treatment, and in many cases a combination of both. Decisions on what method of surface treatment to use have always been a compromise.

With Adhesion Promoters, such concerns are environmental (High VOC emissions and clean up costs), introductions of dirt, high maintenance costs, and safety. Chlorinated solvents, most commonly used in Adhesion Promoters, are highly flammable and toxic which in turn is dangerous to plant and personnel alike.

Flame Treatment provides a lower cost, high quality solution for surface treatment applications. Unfortunately, this technology has failed to keep pace with the advances made within manufacturing processes used in today's high production environments. Considerations of manufacturing engineers as to the use of Flame as a method of surface treating have been based around cycle times, where the geometry of the part to be treated is complex, and safety considerations when using a "naked" flame within the confines of a painting system.

FTS Technologies is a company dedicated to advances in the field of surface treating technology to develop new applications and implement these technologies into high production environments. This has in part been achieved via the development of FTS Technologies new "Advanced Thermo-Molecular Adhesion Process" (ATmaP®) and line of "Cirqual®" Burners which take the principles of flame treatment technology to a whole new level.

(United States Patent #: 6,716,484 B2) - Further US and Foreign Patent Applications Pending