OAS is Onto Advanced Engineering
Oxford Advanced Surfaces (OAS) will be presenting a range of surface treatments to prepare composites and engineering plastics for coating and bonding, whilst addressing some of the shortcomings of current surface preparations, at the Advanced Engineering Show (31 October-1 November).
OAS will be highlighting its Onto solution, which is based on a patented reactive chemistry platform that has the ability to improve the surface adhesion of most polymeric materials, creating an effective adhesion promoter.
Surface preparation is fundamental to ensuring good adhesion for both adhesive bonding and painting of composites and lightweight materials. Onto removes the need for time consuming and labour intensive surface preparation, such as abrasion or grinding to allow fast, easy and repeatable surface preparation of composites and plastics.
This removes the risk of damage to surface and eliminates the dust and dirt produced through abrasion or grinding, while allowing faster surface preparation particularly for volume manufacturing.
Onto is simple to apply by spray so that painting or coating becomes easier, and providing a uniform surface across different materials to help achieve a high class, durable finish.
The appeal of Onto is particularly strong in volume manufacturing, although it is also effective in many other market sectors such as aerospace. Unlike most adhesion promoters for plastics, Onto contains no aromatic hydrocarbon solvents and is suitable for use on a wide range of plastics and reinforced composites.
While using heat is a common and effective method for curing existing Onto surface treatment solutions, Oxford Advanced Surfaces has acknowledged that for some materials and higher volume applications this may not be the most suitable method, so have introduced a product that can be cured using a drying step followed by Ultra-Violet (UV) light activation that is more suitable for use in painting processes.
“As the demand for lighter and higher performing materials increases across various applications, so does the need for innovative products that make them easier to process and able to perform to a high standard” Oxford Advanced Surfaces Managing Director, Dr Jon-Paul Griffiths, explained. “We have used our unique surface chemistry to develop the first solution for surface preparation that can be cured using UV-light after a drying step. This gives customers a faster, cleaner, and more flexible solution for surface preparation and also increases the scope of the polymeric materials that can easily be painted or lacquered.”
As with all the surface treatment solutions from Oxford Advanced Surfaces, the UV-curable product removes the need for abrasion, grinding, or plasma and works with polymeric composites and most engineering plastics. Onto solutions are suitable for use with all epoxy and polyurethane paints and coatings, as well as epoxy, polyurethane and Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) adhesives.