THE CAMX FORECAST

Published 07/31/2025

Controlled polymer ablation enables stronger composite bonds

CAMX 2025: Plasma Bound’s surface pretreatment technology using CPA cleanly and effectively energizes similar and dissimilar surfaces to enhance bonding and joining.

Edited by: Grace Stubbins

Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld and Products Finishing

Source (All Images) | Plasma Bound

Plasma Bound (Dublin, Ireland), a spin-out of University College Dublin, is offering Controlled Polymer Ablation (CPA) to reliably prepare the surfaces of lightweight composites for joining. The base technology effectively addresses the bonding challenges for both similar and dissimilar joining of lightweight materials, such as carbon- and glass fiber-reinforced composites.

CPA uses an atmospheric plasma to expose surface fibers and create a highly energized surface that is ready for coating or structural bonding. More specifically, it cleanly removes microns of the polymer/top layer of the composite surface, exposing an undamaged fiber structure. The system is automated, highly repeatable and low energy, with no consumable materials and a long shelf life of up to 30 days following surface treatment.

With a focus on the aerospace and automotive sectors, Plasma Bound’s ambition is to deploy the CPA platform globally to enable manufacturers to improve quality and safety, increase efficiency and lower cost.

CPA was developed at University College Dublin by Dr. Nick Barry, now CTO of Plasma Bound. Barry founded the company in 2017 and was soon joined by Alan Barry, CEO, and Xavier Montibert, commercial director. Plasma Bound quickly became an award-winning member (now alumnus) of the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Incubation Centre, receiving and completing multiple ESA grants and contracts to de-risk its CPA technology for space applications. The company has secured more than €6 million in mixed funding (grant and investment) to develop the technology to full commercialization. It continues to receive significant backing from Enterprise Ireland, Ireland’s governmental agency for business supports.

CPA has been demonstrated in multiple customer projects to disrupt existing industry solutions for lightweight material bonding, painting and repair operations across automotive, aerospace, electronic goods and sports goods. Now with a dedicated team of engineers, Plasma Bound is already validated with major aerospace and automotive Tier 1s.