Method of forming a coating on an inner surface
First Claim
1. In a method of forming a polymer coating on an inner surface of a heat-sensitive, or heat-sensitive, oriented polymer container, comprising,locating said heat-sensitive or heat-sensitive, oriented polymer container in an enclosure;
- controlling the environment within the enclosure an the inside of the container;
feeding reactant gas into the container, said reactant gas fed into the container when reacted, and when said polymer coating is chemically bonded on said container, providing barrier properties including resistance to absorption of liquids or gases beyond the surface of said coating; and
generating a plasma from the reactant gas fed into the container;
the improvement comprising;
controlling the environment by controlling a first pressure inside the enclosure, and independently controlling a second pressure inside of the container, the second pressure being controlled to avoid pressures which permit the formation of plasma in the enclosure outside of the container;
wherein polymer orientation and flexibility of said container is maintained by said method of forming said polymer coating on said surface of said container.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Plasma assisted polymerization and deposition of a very thin inner surface coating in a plastic or metal container without an undesirable increase in container surface temperature is provided to change the surface properties of the internal plastic surface of a container by reaction of the surface with a reactive gas which has been energized to produce a plasma or the surface is activated by a plasma of reactive gas so that it becomes receptive to a further surface reaction. It involves locating the container in an enclosure, inserting means for feeding a reactant gas into the container, selectively controlling the pressure inside the enclosure and inside of the container, cleaning a surface of the container to be coated in situ, pretreating the surface to be coated for enabling a polymer coating subsequently deposited thereon to secure proper adhesion between the coating material and the container material, feeding a reactant gas of predetermined constituency and having barrier properties into the container, generating a plasma of said reactant gas and depositing a relatively thin polymer coating on the surface to be coated, and performing a post polymerization treatment on said polymer coating for eliminating residual monomers and other polymer extractables in situ following deposition of said polymer coating.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. In a method of forming a polymer coating on an inner surface of a heat-sensitive, or heat-sensitive, oriented polymer container, comprising,
locating said heat-sensitive or heat-sensitive, oriented polymer container in an enclosure; -
controlling the environment within the enclosure an the inside of the container; feeding reactant gas into the container, said reactant gas fed into the container when reacted, and when said polymer coating is chemically bonded on said container, providing barrier properties including resistance to absorption of liquids or gases beyond the surface of said coating; and generating a plasma from the reactant gas fed into the container; the improvement comprising; controlling the environment by controlling a first pressure inside the enclosure, and independently controlling a second pressure inside of the container, the second pressure being controlled to avoid pressures which permit the formation of plasma in the enclosure outside of the container; wherein polymer orientation and flexibility of said container is maintained by said method of forming said polymer coating on said surface of said container. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification