Recently, the invention patent independently developed by Zhenhua Vacuum, titled Operation Method of a Vacuum Fluorination Apparatus and Vacuum Fluorination Apparatus, was officially authorized, with Patent No. ZL 2024 1 0495006.4. This patented technology is designed for the pretreatment process of automotive plastic components before water-based paint spraying. By applying vacuum fluorination, it improves the surface activity of plastic substrates such as PP and ABS, helping address common challenges including poor water-based paint adhesion, peeling, and unstable batch consistency. It provides a more stable interfacial foundation for subsequent coating processes.
The authorization of this patent marks another important breakthrough for Zhenhua Vacuum in the field of high-end surface treatment equipment. It also further strengthens the company’s technical competitiveness in the specialized field of water-based paint pretreatment for automotive plastic parts.
For a long time, the core equipment and key process technologies of vacuum fluorination have mainly been controlled by overseas companies, resulting in a certain degree of dependence on imported high-end equipment and process solutions in domestic applications. The successful authorization of this patent means that Zhenhua Vacuum has developed an independently controllable domestic solution in this technical direction, providing strong support for breaking foreign technical barriers and promoting the localization and substitution of vacuum fluorination equipment.
With increasingly stringent national VOC emission regulations, water-based coatings are accelerating their replacement of traditional solvent-based coatings and are being more widely applied in automotive interior parts, airbag covers, and other plastic components. However, in practical production, common plastic substrates such as PP and ABS usually have low surface energy, making it difficult for water-based coatings to fully wet, spread, and firmly adhere to the substrate surface. This often leads to insufficient coating adhesion, film peeling, poor weather resistance, and other quality issues.
In mass production, these problems may further result in unstable batch consistency, increased rework and scrap rates, longer validation cycles, and higher production risks, directly affecting product yield and delivery efficiency. Relying only on coating formula adjustment or adding primer processes often brings additional process steps, higher costs, and greater difficulty in production stability control. Therefore, improving water-based paint coating quality must focus on the key variable of plastic substrate surface properties.
To address the issue of insufficient adhesion of water-based paint on automotive plastic components, Zhenhua Vacuum has independently developed a vacuum fluorination apparatus and operating method based on vacuum fluorination pretreatment technology. Before the spraying process, the system can carry out controllable fluorination treatment on the surface of PP, ABS, and other plastic parts. Without changing the bulk structure of the substrate, it improves the surface polarity and wettability of the plastic material, allowing water-based coatings to spread more evenly, adhere more firmly, and form a more stable interfacial bonding layer.
For mass production applications, the value of vacuum fluorination pretreatment lies not only in improving the adhesion performance of individual parts, but also in providing stable and controllable surface conditions for the subsequent water-based coating process. By introducing a front-end surface modification process, it helps reduce batch variation and process risks caused by fluctuations in substrate surface conditions, thereby improving coating consistency and production stability.
In application scenarios such as automotive interior parts, airbag covers, and complex-shaped plastic components, this technology can help customers reduce dependence on primer processes and major production line modifications during the transition from solvent-based coatings to water-based coatings. At the same time, it supports compliance with low-VOC regulatory requirements, shortens validation cycles, and helps control mass-production introduction costs.
The official authorization of the vacuum fluorination apparatus invention patent is another milestone achievement for Zhenhua Vacuum in its independent R&D journey in high-end surface treatment equipment. It also reflects the company’s continuous technical accumulation and innovation in solving water-based paint pretreatment challenges for automotive plastic components.
From adhesion improvement to stable batch processing, and from equipment development to process operation optimization, Zhenhua Vacuum is leveraging its independently controllable vacuum fluorination technology to provide automotive component manufacturers with a more practical and engineering-oriented pretreatment solution. Looking ahead, Zhenhua Vacuum will continue to focus on the green, low-VOC, and high-quality mass-production needs of the automotive manufacturing industry, promoting the practical application of more domestically developed surface treatment equipment in real production scenarios.
Post time: Jun-05-2026