Laboratory for surface finishing and analysis

Laboratory management

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Although plastics have been used more and more intensively over the decades due to their diversity and low weight, their appearance, surface function and feel are not always at the level required for particularly high-quality and modern products (automotive engineering, furniture, sporting goods, etc.). In order to be able to utilise the favourable and flexible production possibilities of polymers, their surfaces are increasingly being modified or coated in such a way that they fit into the demanding product environment.
There are numerous options for finishing the surfaces: painting, printing or mechanical processing, laminating or back injection moulding through to vacuum processes such as vapour deposition, sputtering or a wide variety of plasma-assisted processes. In this way, plastics can be adapted to a wide variety of environments and design requirements; after finishing, they can be smooth or scratch-resistant, metallic or coloured, easy to clean or vapour-tight and often even outperform conventional materials with these properties.
Basic processes and properties of surface finishing are presented in lectures and learnt in practice using laboratory equipment. In addition, some possibilities of surface analysis are also discussed.
As with the other materials testing methods, companies can use the measurement of the surface tension of plastic surfaces in particular.