SST Life
SST Life
SST Life
Alternatively, zinc plating with black passivation will serve the purpose.
How E-coating works
The coating materials (resins, pigments, additives, etc.) are dispersed in water and held
in a bath. The parts to be coated are immersed in the solution and an electrical current is
passed through the bath using the parts as an electrode.
Electrical activity around the surface of the parts makes the resin directly in contact
become insoluble in water. This causes a layer of resin – including any pigments and
additives present – to adhere to the surface of the parts. The coated parts can then be
removed from the bath and the coating is normally cured by baking in an oven to make it
hard and durable.
Immersion process: All of the surfaces in contact with the solution are coated. This
means that even the most complicated shapes can be completely coated. Parts can be
more densely packed on the rack to increase production rate.
Electrical deposition method: The application of electricity causes the resins and other
ingredients to deposit onto the parts’ surface. Controlling the electrical current enables a
predictable and consistent thickness of coating to be applied. This is essential if “tinted”
coatings are required – for example “brass” or “gold” colors over bright nickel or zamak.
Consistent color effect demands consistent thickness.
Water based process: There are no flammability problems during application. Also, there
is no need to dry parts after water-based cleaning or pretreatment processes. Using
Ultrafiltration technology, rinse water can be extracted from the bath itself and used to
recycle nearly 100% of drag-out back into the bath. This maximizes material usage and
minimizes costs.
Comparing E-coating with solvent based spraying and powder coating
Overspray is wasted
Rack or support is coated
Complete coverage difficult
Consistent thickness difficult
Flammable during application
Parts must be dry
E-coat
No overspray problem
Insulated racks are not coated
Complete coverage characteristic
Consistent thickness characteristic
No flammability problem
Parts can be dry or wet
Powder Coat
Overspray difficult to reclaim
Rack or support is coated
Very wide thickness distribution
Parts must be dry
E-coat
No overspray problem
Insulated racks are not coated
Controlled, consistent thickness
Parts can be dry or wet
From this it can be seen that using spray techniques to apply finishes that can be
achieved using E-coat processing will give inferior results in terms of coverage and
consistency of thickness. This is in addition to greater material usage and wastage. Also,
surface preparation prior to spraying is less versatile and can require more energy
because of the need to dry.
Further, the following comparison illustrates the higher productivity of the E-coat
process. The question is, “How many parts can be coated for every 1 kilogram of paint?”
This example is based on a standard part with a surface area of 15.5 square inches. The
minimum thickness requirement is 12 microns. E-coating is able to deliver this within the
range of 12 – 13 microns. Good quality spray paints need to apply 12 – 18 microns to be
certain of maintaining a 12 micron minimum. Powder coating cannot deliver much less
than 30 microns and will normally work within a 30 – 60 micron range.
Note that in this example the supply solids of the E-coat and spray paint are the same –
i.e. 50%.
The lower productivity of the liquid and powder spray processes is due to their higher
average thickness and over-spray losses including coating the rack. This shows that the
E-coat technology delivers the highest quality finishing in the most cost effective way.