Powder coating line
Powder coating line
Powder coating
Powder coating is a coating technique used to protect and finish products made of steel or other metals.
This process involves applying powder paint to the parts being treated using an electrostatic effect.
The powder particles are given an electrostatic charge and are attracted to the workpiece, ensuring complete coverage and allowing the powder to reach every nook and cranny of the item being coated.
Powder coating can be applied to metal parts made of black steel, galvanized steel, electro-zinc plated steel, or aluminum—whether raw, anodized, or previously lacquered.
The absence of solvents and toxic compounds makes powder coating the ideal solution for meeting current environmental and health protection standards.
Polymerization
After powder coating, the parts pass through an oven for approximately 20 minutes at around 200°C for polymerization.
This stage allows the powder to harden and stabilize.
The coating
Powder coatings offer excellent technical and aesthetic performance, particularly regarding:
• impact resistance
• surface hardness
• corrosion resistance
• color retention
• coating uniformity (absence of runs or excessive thickness)
• wide range of colors (RAL color chart = over 160 colors available)
• availability of special effects such as metallic, textured, or sand-effect finishes…
The powder coating line consists primarily of:
– a sandblasting booth.
The sandblasting booth is used to strip parts, exposing the bare metal and preparing the surface for powder coating. It operates using either steel shot for medium- to heavy-gauge steel parts, or corundum for thin-gauge steel, aluminum, or stainless steel parts.
– a powder coating booth.
The powder coating booth allows for the application of powder paint to a metal part before it passes through the oven.
– a curing oven.
The curing oven allows the powder coating to be baked at 200°C for polymerization.
Depending on production and customer demand, the following can be added:
– a metal spraying booth
The metal spraying booth allows parts to be metal-sprayed after sandblasting to improve corrosion protection.
– an automatic shot-blasting machine
The automatic shot-blasting machine enables the continuous, automatic shot-blasting of steel parts. It is primarily used for large-scale production runs.
Paint line
The powder coating booth allows for the application of powder paint to a metal part before it enters the curing oven. It can be built to any size and feature either horizontal or vertical ventilation.
Thanks to its electrostatic powder coating gun, it allows powder paint to be applied evenly over the part—reaching every area—before the part is placed in the oven.
It consists of a cabin with ATEX-rated fluorescent lighting and a compliant filtration system featuring an ATEX dust collector.
The powder coating gun is mounted on a trolley or a fixed station and draws in the powder to spray it onto the parts.
This booth can be equipped with a conveyor to facilitate various operations when dealing with large numbers of parts that are difficult to handle.
Baking oven
The curing oven enables the polymerization of the paint on the treated part.
It consists of a steel enclosure with walls insulated by 200 mm of rock wool to maximize heat retention.
Equipped with a gas or oil burner, it maintains a temperature of approximately 200°C throughout the polymerization process.
The internal walls feature a lining and multiple adjustment settings to ensure perfect heat distribution.
The oven can be fitted with a conveyor system to facilitate handling when dealing with large quantities of parts or items that are difficult to move manually.
Metal spraying booth
The metal spraying booth allows for coating operations using either a flame spray gun or an arc spray gun.
It is designed to ensure operations comply with relevant standards and meets ATEX requirements.
It can be built to any size and features enhanced sound insulation.
Due to the specific nature of the dust generated by metal spraying, these booths are equipped with a specialized dust extraction system.
Automatic shot blasting machine
The automatic shot-blasting machine enables continuous shot-blasting of the parts to be treated.
The parts are placed on a conveyor belt and pass through a shot-blasting chamber equipped with four blast wheels, each with a power rating of 5.5, 7.5, 11, or 15 kW. By adjusting the feed speed, the intensity of the shot-blasting can be varied to meet the quality standards specified by the customer.
The automatic shot-blasting machine is particularly well-suited for large production runs of steel parts and enables high-volume automated production.
Standard passage dimensions range from 1 m to 2 m in width and 0.3 m to 0.8 m in height.
Processing times depend on the passage speed, and shot recycling is fully automatic.