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890710

Organic Coated Steel Sheet for

Automotive Body Panel
Kanji Nakamura, Hirohiko Sakai, Kenji Miki and Shingo Nomura
Kobe Steel. Ltd.

International Congress
and Exposition
Detroit, Michigan
February 27–March 3, 1989
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ISSN 0148-7191
copyright Ó 1989 Society of Automotive Engineers,inc.

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890710

Organic Coated Steel Sheet for

Automotive Body Panel
Kanji Nakamura, Hirohiko Sakai, Kenji Miki and Shingo Nomura
Kobe Steel. Ltd.

ABSTRACT by powdering brings about the surface defect of formed parts

A thin organic coated steel sheet (HI-SUPER-DN) has
been recently developed for automotive body panel applica-
tions. The steel sheet consists of a Zn-Ni alloy-plated layer,
a chromate film and a thin organic coated layer, which is
composed of colloidal silica, organic polymer and an organic
additive. Corrosion resistance, formability of the coated
layer, weidability and electropaintability of the steel sheet
required for automotive body panel were studied. An
increase in the colloidal silica in the organic coated layer
improves corrosion resistance. However, the formability of
the organic coated layer deteriorates with such as increase in
the colloidal silica. We have optimized the ratio of colloidal
silica to organic polymer so as to balance both the corrosion
resistance and the formability of the organic coated layer.
Futhermore, the bake-hardenability of the steel sheet was
maintained by a relatively low temperature baking of the
chromate film and the organic coated layer. This coated
steel sheet is, as a whole, superior to other various coated
steel sheets and has been put to practical use by Japanese
automobile manufacturers.
and the deterioration of corrosion resistance. Besides, it is
difficult to adopt bake-hardenable steel sheet for the sub-
strate of zinc-rich-paint coated steel sheet because of the
higher baking temperatures needed such as 250°C.
To improve the poor performances of zinc-rich paint
coated steel sheet and to satisfy demands of automobile
manufacturers, an organic coated steel sheet with bake-
hardenability has been recently developed.
This paper describes the performance of the steel sheet.
TEST PROCEDURE
COMPOSITION OF ORGANIC COATED STEEL
SHEET (DN) – The coating layer of the steel sheet consists
of Zn-Ni electroplating as a basecoat, a chromate film as an
inorganic intermediate layer and a thin organic coated layer
which is composed of colloidal silica, organic polymer and
an organic additive. The schematic illustration of DN is
shown in Fig. 1.

AMONG VARIOUS PRECOATED STEEL MATERIALS

used for automotive bodies, zinc-rich paint-coated steel sheet
has been used by many automobile manufacturers because of
its good corrosion resistance when unpainted. This steel
sheet is particularly suitable for hemmed and enclosed
portions, which are difficult to paint. However, a thick
organic coated layer containing zinc powder has been the
cause of such problems ( l ) * - (4) as powdering during press
forming and poor weldability. Exfoliation of coated layer

* Numbers in parentheses designate references at the end of

paper.
0148-7191/89/0227-0710$02.50
Copyright 1989 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
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2 890710
The baking temperature for the chromate film and the
organic coated layer was set at 150°C to maintain
bake-hardenability after paint baking. The effect of each
component of the coated layer was as follows. The organic
coated layer provides barrier protection, while the inorganic
intermediate layer provides passivation (5) to slow down any
corrosive reaction, should the organic coated layer be
broken. The plated layer provides galvanic protection, being
called into play only after the initial two coatings have been
exhausted.
CORROSION RESISTANCE - Specimens of the
various coated steel sheets listed in Table 1 were examined
without painting in the cyclic corrosion test (CCT) are
shown in Fig. 2. The CCT, consisting of salt spraying, drying
and humidity, is a test to simulate the perforation corrosion
of the automotive bodies. The corrosion resistance of both
the scribed flat specimens and the specimens after draw bead
testing were evaluated according to the red rust areas and
corrosion depth.
ELECTROPAINTABILITY - Electropaintability of
various coated steel sheets were evaluated for cratering
threshold voltage. After phosphate treatment (GRANODINE
DP4000 Nippon Paint Ltd.), each specimen (70mm ´
150mm) was electropainted at voltages from 180 to 320 volts
at 20 volt steps. At each step, the voltage was gradually
increased up to the level of the voltage to be tested in 30
seconds and maintained for 2 minutes. The painted panel
were then washed with tap water and deionized water,
followed by baking at 170°C for 20 minutes.
FORMAB1LITY – In order to evaluate the powdering
properties during press-forming, a draw bead test was conduc-
ted. The testing process consists of weighing, drawing and
peeling with adhesive tape in the formed area and reweighing.
The powdering properties were evaluated by the difference in
the weight before and after drawing. The draw bead test is
outlined in Fig. 3.
WELDABILITY - Spot weldability was evaluated for
acceptable welding current range and the number of continu-
ous welds. The lower limit of the acceptable welding current
range is the minimum current at which button failure can be
obtained and the upper limit is the current at which the
electrode begins to electrode sticking. A continuous welding
test was perfomed at the current of the acceptable range.
The continuous welding number was determined by the
number of welds needed to obtain sufficient nugget diameter
was obtained.
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890710 3

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effect of the SiO2 content in the organic coated
layer on corrosion resistence is shown in Fig. 6. The surface
CORROSION RESISTANCE OF DN - Results of the appearance of flat and formed specimens after exposure 200
cyclic corrosion test are shown in Fig. 4. Zn-Ni alloy of cycles is shown in Photo. 1. The increase in the SiO2
electroplated steel sheet showed better corrosion resistance content in the organic coated layer improves the corrosion
compared to electrogalvanized, hot dip galvanized and resistance of an organic coated steel sheet in fiat scribed
galvannealed steel sheets. The better corrosion resistance condition. The mechanism by which an increase in the SiO1
of Zn-Ni alloy plated steel sheet is explained in terms of the content in the organic coated layer improves corrosion
fine corrosion product which acts as a barrier (6) against resistance of an organic coated steel sheet is under investiga-
corrosion reaction. tion. In the case of the specimens after the draw bead test,
In the case of DN, neither white nor red rust is excessive SiO2 weakens the corrosion resistance. The best
observed. The effects of chromate treatment and organic corrosion resistance is obtained at 40wt% SiO2.
coating on the corrosion resistance of Zn-Ni electroplated
steel sheet are studied. The results of the cyclic corrosion
test are shown in Fig. 5. Chromate film remarkably improves
the corrosion resistance of Zn-Ni alloy electroplated steel
sheet. This protecting effect seems to be due to the passiva-
tion which is generated by the self-healing effect of the
hexavalent chromium in the chromate film. DN did not
formed either red rust nor white rust even after exposure 200
of cycles. This excellent corrosion protection is the result of
combination of the chromate film and the organic coated
layer. The role of the organic coated layer on corrosion
resistance is attributable to the suppression of the dissolution
of the hexavalent chromium which maintains the self-healing
effect for a long time and the barrier effect.
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4
To understand this behavior, the surface appearances of
specimens before and after the draw bead test were observed
using a scanning electron microscope. The results are shown
in Photo. -2.
890710
An increase in the SiO2 content worsens the flexibility of
the organic coated layer and generates a number of cracks.
DN exhibits a slight weakening of corrosion resistance in
spite of the generation of many cracks in the organic coated
layer caused by the draw bead test.
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890710 5

In particular, DN with an organic coated layer of 40wt%

SiO2 content shows this trend clearly. A draw-bead-tested
specimen after a cyclic corrosion test (CCT : 48 cycles) was
investigated by electron probe X-ray microanalyser (EPMA),
as shown in Photo. 3. Characteristic X-ray images obtained
by EPMA show the existence of zinc and chlorine at the
cracks. This suggests that a number of cracks were filled
with a corrosion product (primarily zinc chloride) which
prevents further corrosive attack. This seems to be an
explanation of the improved corrosion resistance of formed
DN even after the draw bead test.
ELECTROPAINTABILITY - Anit-cratering of DN and
Zn-Ni alloy electroplated with and without phosphate film
are shown in Fig. 7. Although DN has an organic coated
layer on top of the triplex coated layers, the anti-cratering
properties are found to be improved over the those of Zn-Ni
alloy electroplated steel sheet. The surface of DN was
examined in detail to explain the improved anti-cratering
property. The persence of a lot of fine cavities was indicated
in respect to DN by the deposition of many fine copper The improved electropaintabiiity of DN seemed to be attribu-
metals on the coated steel sheet during the CuSO4 solution table to these fine cavities. Kitagawa et al (7) reported the
dipping test, as shown in Photo. 4. following results on anti-cratering.
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6 890710
(1) Cratering occurs when part of the paint undergoes a The effect of SiO2 content in the organic coated layer
trermal change due to the spark discharge on the on anti-powdering properties is shown in Fig. 9. The anti-
cathode. Nuclei are generated which hinder the powdering properties deteriorate with an increase in the
leveling of the deposited paint film. SiO2 content in the organic coated layer. As shown in
(2) The spark discharge during electrodeposition can be Photo. 2, the organic coated layer with a low SiO2 content
surpressed by allowing the generated H2 gas to leave is sufficiently ductile to cover the cracks of Zn-Ni.caused by
the cathode surface easily. the draw bead test, while, in case of a high SiO2 content, the
In case of DN, the deposited paint film on DN therefore ductility of the organic layer is decreased and is easily
suspected to be more porous than that on Zn-Ni alloy cracked and peeled off.
electroplated steel sheet. The generated H2 gas may leave
easily through the porous deposited film. The better anti-
cratering properties of DN than Zn-Ni alloy electroplated
steel sheet to be attributable to this.
FORMABILITY - The anti-powdering properties of
various coated steel sheet are shown in Fig. 8. DN and
Zn-Ni alloy electroplated steel sheet reveal a good anti-
powdering properties compared with other zinc-coated steel
sheet, such as galvannealed, hot dip galvanized and electro-
galvanized sheet. The anti-powdering properties of DN is
equal to that of Zn-Ni alloy electroplated steel sheet because
of the thinness of the upper duplex-coated layer.
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890710
WELDABILITY - The sopt weldability of DN was
compared with that of Zn-Ni alloy electroplated steel sheet.
Fig. 10 shows the acceptable welding current ranges. The
acceptable welding current range of DN is narrower than
that of Zn-Ni alloy electroplated steel sheet because the
organic coated layer restricts the conductive region and
increases heat generation in sopt welding. In addition, the
lower limit of the current range of DN is lower than that
of Zn-Ni alloy electroplated steel sheet for the same reasons.
As a whole, the same welding conditions are applicable to
DN and Zn-Ni electroplated steel sheet. Fig. 11 shows the
continuous spot weldability of DN. A stable nugget diameter
was maintained through 5000 welds.
7
CONCLUSION
An organic coated steel sheet has been recenfly
developed to saitisfy the demands ofa u t o m o b i l emanufac-
turers for formability, corrosion resistance, weldability and
electropaintability.
The new thin organic coated steel sheet consists of a
Zn-Ni alloy electroplated steel sheet substrate, a chromate
film and an organic coated layer which is composed of an
organic polymer, colloidal silica and an organic additive.
The steel sheet exhibits a sufficiently performance in
corrosion resistance, formability, weldabilty and electro-
paintability so that it can be to put to practical use by
Japanese manufacturers, Futhermore, the bake-hardenability
of the steel sheet was maintained by relatively low curing
temperauture range for the chromate film and organic coated
layer.
REFERENCES
(1) H. Okuda, K. Matsui, T. Toyoshima, Tetso-to-Hagane,
69 s1104 (1983)
(2) S. Tgawa, T. Mohri, S. Kobayashi, T. Ichida, SAE paper
850004
(3) M. Kitayama, M. Yoneno, K. Matsuda, T. Oka, Tetsu-to-
Hagane, 71 749 (1985)
(4) T. E. Dorsett, SAE paper 862027
(5) T- Hisamatsu, Hyomen, 3 731 (1968)
(6) A. Shibuya, T. Kurimoto, K. Korekawa, K. Noji, Tetsu-
to-Hagane 66 771 (1980)
(7) M. Kitayama, T. Azami, N. Miura, T, Ogasawnrn,
Transactions ISIJ 24 742 (1984)
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Persons wishing to submit papers to be considered for pre-
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Printed in U.S.A.