ANH TRI TUE WINS FIRST PRIZE AT THE CAN THO CITY TECHNICAL INNOVATION CONTEST 2024–2025 WITH A PTFE–RUBBER BONDING SOLUTION

Anh Tri Tue Manufacturing & Trading Co., Ltd. has been honored with a Certificate of Merit from the Chairman of the Can Tho City People’s Committee after winning First Prize at the 13th Can Tho City Technical Innovation Contest (2024–2025) with the solution “PTFE surface treatment to bond with rubber during vulcanization.” This achievement marks an important milestone, affirming the company’s R&D capability and its ability to turn challenging engineering problems into products/solutions with real industrial applicability.

The award-winning team includes Nguyen Thi Cat Linh (Anh Tri Tue Manufacturing & Trading Co., Ltd.) and Nguyen Le The Duy (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Can Tho University of Technology).

1) A “tough” challenge: PTFE is highly durable, yet it is nearly impossible to bond reliably with rubber

In industrial applications, PTFE (commonly known by the trade name Teflon) is well known for its chemical resistance, low friction, non-stick properties, and strong performance in harsh environments. However, precisely because PTFE is highly chemically inert, it is almost impossible to form a durable bond with other materials using conventional bonding methods.

This becomes a major barrier when manufacturers want to combine “dual advantages”:

• A PTFE surface layer for chemical resistance, reduced friction, and anti-adhesion
• A rubber base to ensure elasticity, sealing performance, and tolerance for assembly misalignment

In practice, demand for PTFE–rubber bonding appears frequently in sealing and wear-resistant components such as seals, gaskets, washers, and PTFE-lined rubber bushings—where both chemical durability and mechanical robustness are required for long-term stable operation.

2) Anh Tri Tue’s solution: activating the PTFE surface to achieve strong bonding during vulcanization

Driven by practical manufacturing needs, Anh Tri Tue’s team has researched and completed a PTFE surface-treatment solution that converts the surface from an “inert” state to an “activated” state, enabling durable bonding with the rubber layer through the compression-vulcanization process.

A key highlight of this solution is its high feasibility on the shop floor:

• Can be applied directly within existing rubber compression-vulcanization processes
• Does not require investment in complex, specialized equipment separate from the production line
• Optimized handling time and storage conditions to fit real-world manufacturing

3) Clear technical evidence: adhesion (peel strength) surpasses imported references

In peel strength verification, untreated samples show virtually no bonding (<1 N/cm). After treatment, adhesion increases significantly: the imported reference reaches 47 N/cm, while Anh Tri Tue’s solution achieves 49.8 N/cm. In production, adhesion has been recorded above 40 N/cm—higher than the required threshold of 25 N/cm.

Beyond bond strength, the solution also targets process stability: it is suitable for a vulcanization temperature range of 140–180°C and can be applied to PTFE films, sheets, or small technical parts.

4) Practical applications: from steel plate rolling to shipbuilding and industrial valves

The greatest value of a technical solution lies not only in laboratory results, but in its ability to be implemented in production and deliver operational benefits to customers.

Anh Tri Tue’s PTFE surface-treatment solution has been applied in the workshop to manufacture technical rubber seals with a PTFE lining for corrosion resistance and low friction, serving harsh operating conditions. According to the contest submission, the solution is applied to sealing systems in the steel rolling industry and sealing components in mechanical engineering and shipbuilding, while also expanding its potential to industries requiring chemical-resistant materials such as food, medical, and chemical sectors.

5) Direct customer benefits: more durable, more controllable, more cost-efficient

For industrial customers, material-solution decisions typically center on three pillars: operational durability, supply stability, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Anh Tri Tue’s solution offers notable advantages:

• Extends the service life of sealing components in friction/corrosion environments thanks to the PTFE surface and a durable bond to the rubber substrate
• Reduces downtime risk and lowers maintenance/replacement costs at critical positions
• Enables proactive, customized design based on customer drawings/samples, tailored to real operating conditions
• Optimizes cost: By localizing the surface-treatment technology and integrating it directly into existing production processes, the solution helps businesses improve overall cost efficiency and investment effectiveness for PTFE-lined sealing components.

6) Anh Tri Tue’s commitment: from consultation to prototyping and production deployment

With strong capabilities in custom manufacturing of technical rubber products, Anh Tri Tue is ready to work with businesses to:

• Assess operating conditions (temperature, pressure, chemicals, speed/friction, assembly structure)
• Propose an appropriate material structure (rubber base, PTFE lining structure, required adhesion level)
• Produce and validate prototypes quickly before mass production
• Ensure batch-to-batch stability and move toward process standardization for critical applications

If your business faces sealing challenges in high-chemical or high-friction environments, or needs PTFE-lined rubber components with durable bonding to extend service life, please send your drawings or existing samples. Anh Tri Tue’s technical team will advise on the material solution and a suitable prototyping roadmap for real-world requirements.

(Certificate of Merit information: Chairman of the Can Tho City People’s Committee; Decision No. 450/QD-UBND; dated January 15, 2026.)