Conductive Science Inc (CSI), the specialist one-stop-shop for flexible coated products and services is based in San Diego County, CA, and is in the process of installing its third Vetaphone corona treater on its coating lines to guarantee high-quality adhesion on a range of delicate and expensive substrates.
As part of the Marian Inc. Group, CSI was established in 2007 to focus on the application of conductive coatings for the battery and capacitor industries. Today, the company provides trial development and production capacity for the automotive, medical, aerospace, and various industrial markets, under ISO 9001:2015 certification.
Equipped with three aqueous coating lines for 13” (350mm), 19.7” (500mm), and 51” (1300mm) web widths, CSI can apply conductive coatings, top coats, and adhesives onto flexible webs of foil or plastic. Coating application is either direct/indirect gravure, three roll reverse, rod, or slot-die. Drying is by a two-zone overhead IR hoods, and to ensure quality, inline and post measurement testing is completed throughout the process.
CSI is coating water-based solutions on substrates that range from 8-micron to 250-micron at speeds from 30m/min (100ft/min) to 100m/min (330ft/min). The Vetaphone corona treatment systems on all three coating lines will allow CSI to ensure that the best level of adhesion is being achieved for each coating to substrate combination.
Citing his reasons for choosing Vetaphone, Dave Swaggerty said: “The American corona treaters we had previously were simply not providing reliable results. After looking at the Vetaphone website and discussing surface treatment with printing colleagues, I knew I had found the right manufacturer – the key is the clever Vetaphone iCorona generator which offers the precise control we need. Now our surface treatment is uniform with consistently good wetting out that is needed for high-quality adhesion on these tricky substrates.”
The first Vetaphone treater was installed in 2019, the second in 2021, and the third is in the process of being installed. All three units been fitted with ozone eliminators to ensure the removal of ozone to the atmosphere. Another benefit highlighted by Dave Swaggerty is the commonality of his Vetaphone treaters, which he says is great from the aspect of familiarity of operation and interchangeability of components, and allows him to swap electrode cartridges from one to another for two out of the three coating lines.
“We have moved largely into the Battery/Capacitor markets for the automotive industry on the production side, but we still see ourselves as an R&D platform for product development with run lengths as small as a few 100m² to 200,000m² per campaign. CSI has coating lines that will fit most requirements,” he added.
Commenting for Vetaphone, Rod Ambrose who handles sales on the Pacific coast said: “CSI is a unique application for us in the US as it combines R&D and production under one roof so is a good test of our technology’s ability under differing circumstances. We are delighted to receive such a glowing testimonial from a company that has exacting standards and is working with delicate and expensive substrates where any waste is costly.”
With a staff of seven, CSI is aiming for $2m-4m in sales in 2023, and looking to grow the business in a controlled and manageable way. “Our skill set here is better applied to testing and limited run high-quality work – so we really value Vetaphone as a technology partner,” Dave Swaggerty concluded.
