Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Electrostatic Coating - Wikipedia
Electrostatic Coating - Wikipedia
coating
Process characteristics
Uses a high voltage electrostatic charge which is applied to both the workpiece and the
sprayer mechanism
Uses 95% of sprayed paint due to reduced over-spray and better wrap-around
The baked on paint adheres extremely well and is difficult to remove without aggressive
means of removal.
Process
The workpiece travels down a conveyor belt towards a paint booth, or paint tank, where it is
sprayed with, or dipped into, electrostatically charged paint particles. Integrated into a
powder paint booth is a powder recovery unit, which recovers between 95% and 100% of the
paint over-spray coatings. After the workpiece is coated, it continues on the conveyor belt to
an oven, where the paint is cured. The benefits to the process of electrostatic coating are the
ability to recover the little over-spray and having the process automated which will cut costs.
The reason for the little overspray is the paint particles that do not hit the piece will turn in the
air and go back to the piece. There are also some drawbacks to the process: everything in the
area of the coating must be grounded to prevent static buildup and can easily arc, damaging
the hanging devices and/or the locations where the hanging devices rest on the conveyor. All
hangers, conveyors, etc. must be cleaned often to ensure a good ground and prevent anyone
in the area from getting a severe shock. In an airborne system, any recesses on the piece that
is being coated can be missed because the electrostatic paint is more attracted to corners
and sharp edges; this means that another process for coating can be a better option if the
piece has recesses. In the dipping process, air entrapment can occur in blind holes and deep
recesses, so the positioning of the part as it enters the paint tank is critical in removing any
trapped air that will restrict paint coverage.[2]
Workpiece geometry
The geometry of the workpiece is limited only by the size of the paint booth or tank. Using
electrostatic coating, it is possible to apply paint in various thicknesses being limited only by
the paint's tendency to run and therefore ruin the coating if applied in too thick a manner. It is
usually preferred to apply many thin coats as opposed to one thick coat.
The job may be delivered to the coating booth or hangers in any fashion, most commonly
using either hands or pliers. After passing through the booth, or tank, and getting coated, the
workpiece then either goes into a baking oven or out into the open air to allow the paint to
cure on the part. In spray coating, many different spray nozzles may be used depending on
the desired paint consistency and the shape of the workpiece.
Typical tools and geometry produced
There are a wide variety of spray nozzles available for use in electrostatic coating. The type
of nozzle used will largely depend on the shape of workpiece to be painted and the
consistency of the paint.
References
1. Manufacturing Processes Reference Guide, 1st ed. , Robert H. Todd, Dell K. Allen, and Leo
Alting, 1994
External links
How the process of electrostatic coating is used in the finishing process during their
construction. Example is during the final minute of the video (https://web.archive.org/web/
20090217192309/http://science.discovery.com/videos/how-its-made-shock-absorber.ht
ml)
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Electrostatic_coating&oldid=962090878"
Last edited 2 years ago by Materialscientist