Plasmatreat and Automotive: No “Small” Applications

I was speaking recently with Tim Smith, the Canada-based Vice President of Plasmatreat North America. The focus of our discussion? Engine oil pans.

(I know – it doesn’t sound riveting. But bear with me.)

As you may know, oil pans are now increasingly being made out of nylon (PA66) rather than the traditional steel or aluminum. Lightweighting is a factor for this change, as is cost. The oil pan is affixed to the engine block with RTV silicone … and here’s where things get interesting from a plasma perspective.

Nylon oil pans must be pretreated with plasma, or else the silicone simply won’t adhere properly to them. And poor adhesion in this case means messy oil leaks, stained driveways, and unhappy customers.

It’s also important to note that the plasma pretreatment must take place immediately prior to the RTV silicone dispense in order to be effective – not at the oil pan factory, not 12 months before adhesion, not prior to being handled by several sets of factory-dirty hands. Plasma works well here, but it can’t work miracles under the wrong conditions!

In any event, what I began thinking about after speaking with Tim was the fact that Plasmatreat offers a wide variety of solutions for a wide variety of industrial applications. And some are just inherently more flashy and exciting-sounding than others. But all are important in making our world run better and more reliably.

From lowly oil pans great automobiles are launched, in other words. And, to me, that’s incredibly interesting stuff.

If there’s a manufacturing solution we can help you out with, be it big or small, please don’t hesitate to let us know.