Contact angle and dyne inks are commonly accepted methods for probing surface energy. Surface energy is a good first indicator of a clean, bondable, or wettable surface.

For typical plastic and composite materials, the surface begins with low surface energy or a high water contact angle. Aqueous solutions and many adhesives have difficulty wetting onto materials with low surface energy.

Plasma processing incorporates the surface with reactive groups that promote wetting and adhesion. But not every material responds the same to every plasma treatment. With some materials, you have to find the correct plasma gas or plasma source to achieve the desired response. A contact angle or dyne ink will quickly show you if you have that response, or if you should try a different variable.

Brighton Technologies in Cincinnati, Ohio has created a graph that cross-correlates between a water contact angle (WCA) and dyne surface tension mN/m, which they have allowed us to reproduce here. This is helpful for those trying to replace their dyne inks, or those who wish to convert their contact angle data into an engineering unit.

We hope it’s helpful to you (click on the chart to expand it).

May the force be with you: Not just for Star Wars anymore.

Boeing, according to reports in Popular Science and other media outlets, has been granted a patent for a plasma-generated “force field” that protects combat vehicles from the impact of explosions.

The idea is that explosions in the vicinity of the sensor-equipped vehicle trigger the rapid formation of a superheated plasma layer around the vehicle. The plasma creates a buffer zone to reduce the impact of shock waves, protecting both the vehicle itself and the occupants within it.

Even better, it’s not just land vehicles that could benefit from this incredible technology. The patent filing notes that the “protected asset” could be a surface vessel, a submarine vessel, an offshore platform, a land structure, or even “a human.”

Personally, I love the idea of being surrounded by a protective plasma shield, though I am fortunate that I don’t usually need one in the course of my daily activities! I am continually amazed by the new applications for plasma and excited to be working at Plasmatreat, which is always at the forefront of this technology.

We were pleased to learn that a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley will be presenting their findings related to a method of surface modification introduced by Plasmatreat North America. The work will be shared at the upcoming annual meeting for the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

Researchers at UC Berkeley worked with the team at Plasmatreat N.A. to identify an effective method for heparin immobilization on electrospun polycarbonate-urethane vascular grafts.  Heparin incorporation provides implantable medical devices with antithrombotic characteristics.

The team explored three surface modification techniques:

• aminolysis with 1-Ethyl-3-[3-dimethylaminopropyl]carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) chemistry as a chemical immobilization
• polydopamine coating as a passive adsorption
• plasma treatment paired with end-point immobilization to ultimately conjugate heparin on the graft surface.

The most effective modification was determined with respect to the heparin density as well as the antithrombogenic activity of the immobilized heparin. Then, the team proceeded with these optimized PCU grafts immobilized with heparin for short-term in vivo studies.

After 4 weeks, plasma-control grafts exhibited approximately 29% (2 of 7) patency, compared to 86% (6 of 7) patency of plasma-heparin grafts. More importantly, the team observed a more complete endothelialization of the luminal surface with a more aligned, well-organized monolayer of endothelial cells.

The team concluded, in vitro, that the combination of plasma treatment and end-point immobilization of heparin drastically improved the performance of the vascular grafts with respect to patency as well as early stages of endothelialization.

These findings are tremendously exciting because they signal a new era for implantable medical devices. In the past, a goal was to evade biological responses by selecting inert materials that delay host rejection.

Now, however, material modification are allowing researchers to immobilize biomolecules or cytokine, which in turn allows the surface of the device to regulate cellular behavior and to engineer surface response.

The team at Plasmatreat N.A. wants to thank our collaborators at University of California, Berkeley for their innovative utilization of plasma surface modification. Surface chemistry and topography play integral roles in biological development and remodeling. Gas plasma technologies are an effective tool for customized surface engineering.

Some plasma physicists have proposed an alternative comet theory.   In their model a comet may actually be a negatively charged body created from the violent collision of large masses during planet formation.  As these charged bodies accelerate towards the sun they interact with solar winds in an extravagant display of plasma discharge.  Water or hydroxyl compounds would be the explained byproduct from the combination of the oxygen present in silicates with the protons being ejected from the sun.

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) taken from TRAPPIST national telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory on the morning of Nov. 15, 2013. (Liège, Belgium)

Scientific observation of comets have been recorded for more than a century. In the late 20^th century the scientific community reached its first consensus of the comet’s theoretical constitution.  Fred Whipple coined the hypothesis “dirty snowball” presenting the astrological object as an amalgamation of ice, rock, and star dust.  When this body nears the sun a brilliant tail emerges resulting from the sublimation of ice within the comet nucleus.

Yet some would argue that there are a few unexplained attributes of a comet to note.  First is that the coma generally always remains spherical.  This would not necessarily be expected from asymmetric jets of ice emanating from the core but might be sustained by a strong electrical field.  Second is a low constitution of water sampled in missions probing the surface and tail of a comet. One such program “Stardust mission” sent a space craft equipped with an aerogel net through the path of a comet tail.  Upon return the ground based team was surprised to find an assortment of complex high temperature crystalline formations; portions of which were anhydrous structures.  This fundamentally challenges the accepted theory as a low temperature snowball.  There are some that even liken a comet surface to objects on Earth that have become ablated by plasma discharge.  Search for SEM images and decide for yourself.

Comet; plasma or ice?

On September 13^th I asked a Product Realization Group  panel whether they shared the perspective of US manufacturing as being risk-adverse and slow to adopt new manufacturing innovations.  I was surprised as to the answers I received.

Here in the Silicon Valley and elsewhere the culture of off-shoring is changing; especially in the high technology arena.  North American manufacturing still offers better inventory control, higher yield, better performance, and stronger rate /culture for innovation.  High technology development does not just apply to the product but to all aspects of product realization.  A locally integrated and culturally aligned supply chain enables quick response and a faster pace for adopting innovative practices.

A few hidden costs of overseas manufacturing are language barriers, time zone delays, supply chain management, and breaches in intellectual property.  The later involves overseas shops as transferring engineering diagrams, tooling, and shop floor practices among direct competitors!!  Many also find a greater resistance to change in China.  Furthermore the regulated spaces there are relatively ill-defined or inconsistent.

There is also a common misconception amongst students that manufacturing jobs are not good but this is simply untrue.  The educational systems should paint new images of modern manufacturing as cool and clean which are its true colors today.  Plasmatreat and Plasma Technology Systems are glad to be a part of new manufacturing innovation.

PRG – product realization group: http://www.productrealizationgroup.com/index.php

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http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2175.html

It is understood that 99.999% of the universe is in a state of plasma.  The universe is primarily composed of charged species and subatomic particles.  The text book definition of plasma is that it is the 4^th state of matter.  I believe that this definition is fundamentally challenged.  Matter originates in plasma and when energy is lost the celestial bodies and cohesive structures that make up our universe are formed.  In this sense plasma is better described as the first state of matter seeing as this is where chemical compounds begin.

But why recalibrate our perception of plasma?  Here on Earth most of the industrial plasma (those used to modify material) are employed in the cleaning and activation of surfaces.  Essentially this involves the ablation of weakly bound surface contaminant. But I would categorize this process description as a “4^th state” mindset because the tendency is to focus our attention on the solid compounds that originate on the solid and are removed by an energized state of plasma.  While this does occur I feel there is greater accuracy in envisaging plasma as a 1^st state of matter putting greater emphasis on the fragments formed in plasma that come down to join the surface.  The precise chemical compounds that are added are what enable adhesive bonding or reaction.  Those species originate in the plasma and form covalent bonds to the substrate after the source of energy is taken away.

Did you know that PTS is internationally recognized for modifying the surfaces of microfluidic & biological devices?  Check us out on Lily Kim’s www.Fluidicmems.com list of manufacturers.  These partnerships in small devices have a global footprint! Our team’s contribution to the community are elements of advanced polymer chemistry and gas plasma physics; a knowledge that simply translates to targeted conjugation of complex compounds.   We say complex because of the uniquely commercialized methods by which our gas plasma interacts with a substrate.  In some biological applications it is desirable to deliver functional species intact and un-fragmented.  The PTS development lab closely consults its affiliates in how to construct novel surfaces for these new applications.  Although fluidic technologies start micro many need to end big and in high volume.  We make the big or small step using plasma.

My colleague Mikki Larner shared with me a chart illustrating the growing importance of polymeric substrates in the Medical and Microfluidic arena.  Two undoubtedly powerful factors are processing  cost and scalability.

REF:http://www.i-micronews.com/reports/Microfluidic-Substrates-Market-Processing-trends-Market-data/4/217/