Optimising painting of plastic work pieces

By OEM Update Editorial February 21, 2020 12:08 pm IST

Whether cosmetics packaging, housings or automobile parts are involved – products made of plastic can be found in practically all industries and all spheres of life. With the help of coatings, these products are frequently provided with appealing optics and haptics, an individualised appearance, resistance to mechanical, chemical and physical stressing, as well as special functional characteristics. And thus companies with in-house painting operations and coating job-shops are facing new challenges due to current trends and changes in numerous industry sectors. These include the use of new and modified materials and material combinations, the realignment of entire industry sectors, shortened product lifecycles and smaller lot quantities, personalisation of products, the digital transformation and more rigorous goals with regard to energy-efficiency and climate protection. The situation is further complicated by cost aspects. All of this results in the need for high quality painting processes which are more efficient, flexible and resource-conserving. Numerous appropriate options will be presented by the exhibitors at PaintExpo from the 21^st through the 24^th of April, 2020.

From Pre-Treatment to Quality Control

Pre-treatment is taken into consideration first of all: alternatives to conventional power washing such as plasma and CO₂ snow-jet technology often make it possible to reduce cleaning process costs and footprint, and to integrate fully automated cleaning processes into the painting line. Due to the fact that neither chemicals, water nor drying are required for either of these processes, they also make good sense where environmental and energy-saving aspects are concerned. Beyond this, no heat is transferred to the component which could cause substances used in the plastic such as release agents, additives or filler materials to subsequently migrate to the surface from deeper layers, thus resulting in adhesion problems. Electrostatic charging of the plastic surfaces can be counteracted by means of ionisation.