Erie Powder Coatings NewsletterApril 2016
Spring is Here…
Sometimes it feels as if Winter is on forever, but it seems to be leaving us quickly this year. As I write this, the sun is out and the temperatures are mild. Quite a difference from the previous year.
At EPC, we have been undergoing many changes as well. In tune with the bright spring weather we are having, these changes are giving us a bright and sunny outlook. We have some fantastic new products coming out, more in the pipeline, and we have been making changes in house too.
So what’s new?
- Our New Z1000-G5 Zinc Rich Primer – We have just brought out a fantastic new product to add to our line of primers. We have produced a zinc rich primer that is actually easily re-coatable. We have some more information on this in this newsletter.
- Renovations in Canada – Our labs at the Grassie Facility are currently being renovated. This will allow increased capacity and better service,
- Color match capability in the USA – We are getting closer to completing our capability upgrade at the North East PA facility
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”
– Albert Einstein
In This Issue
- Z1000-G5 Zinc Rich
- EPC News
- Technical Corner: Oven Profiling
- Quality Control Instrumentation
Product Showcase: Z1000-G5 Zinc Rich Primer
Erie Powder has introduced our Z1000-G5 zinc rich primer.
For many years, we, and our competitors, have been selling zinc rich epoxy. These products (especially ours!) are excellent. They can give vastly improved salt spray corrosion resistance to steel substrates.
But these products have always been difficult to use. Everyone has seen the data sheets for these epoxy primers asking to bake these products only between the gel point and a partial cure. For any customers that have tried this, it’s extremely difficult to do in practice. Sometimes impossible. And this inter-coat adhesion can lead to costly product recalls.
Our lab has developed a new product, our Z1000-G5, which is far easier to top coat. No more worries about delamination in the field because the topcoat didn’t stick. No more worries about a costly claim from your customer. Yet still top end corrosion resistance from a high zinc content primer.
At Left— Zinc rich epoxy primer coated topcoated with orange showing delamination of the topcoat.
At Right— Erie’s Z1000-G5 Zinc rich primer showing excellent top coat adhesion
Erie’s new zinc rich primer— ask your sales rep or call our office
EPC News
Introduction of the Z1000-G5 Zinc Rich Primer
A zinc rich you can actually re-coat. See info above—ask your sales rep or our office for further information
Laboratory Renovations at the Grassie Location: We are much further along on our renovations, and completion is in sight. We are targeting mid April for completion of these renovations.
Phase 1 is complete and covered our R&D lab. We completely renovated our R&D space, replacing the walls, floor and upgrading electrical and heating systems. We also added capacity by installing a brand new salt spray cabinet to go along with our accelerated weathering installation.
Phase 2 is underway, with the QC lab, product development lab and the spray rooms being renovated. These rooms are being fully renovated, and will have replaced floors, windows, etc.
Laboratory Upgrade at the North East facility: EPC is part way through the upgrade of our US facility to allow color matching and product development at the North East PA location. This will add to the administration, sales, production and QC functions already performed at this plant.
When complete, we will be able to react much more quickly to our customers requests for new products. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done on this project, with expected completion in the Summer of 2016.
Oven Profiling
Oven profiling is an important part of any operation to ensure quality and full cure, without over-cure of the powder coating.
To the right — a copy of a typical oven profile.
On the vertical axis is the temperature (in F). On the horizontal axis is the time (minutes).
The instrument takes recordings every few seconds, and enters these onto its internal database, making the lines seen on the graph for each of the temperature probes.
The graph at right shows a test with 6 probes. Typically some probes are left open to the oven air to measure air temperature, and others attached to the parts being tested for metal temperature (and thus cure temperature).
When the cure speed of the powder coating is entered onto the software for the oven profile equipment, the instrument can give cure values. These cure values give an idea of how fully cured the powder might be based on the cure speed of the powder and the time and temperature measured by each probe used for the test.
There are a number of oven testers available, we use Fluke Oven Tracker
Technical Corner
The Importance of Oven Profiling
The curing oven in a powder coating operation is often one of the most expensive parts to run of the powder coating process due to ever increasing energy costs. Why not make sure that you are getting the biggest bang for your buck?
Oven profiling – often called a Datapaq Test – is an important part of the regular maintenance of a powder coating operation. It is critical that powder coaters that are operating either a conveyor or batch oven set-up know that their parts are getting enough heat to cure and crosslink the powder paint. Under-cured powder can be a disaster – if the powder is under-cured, adhesion to the metal can be near zero.
A Datapaq oven test uses a device that will record the oven air and part temperature during a typical cure cycle, and chart the data in a temperature vs. time graph. The data is recorded by thermocouples that are hung on the coaters own racking and parts.
For the most accurate results, it is recommended to use a six channel Datapaq recorder. A typical test will measure the air temperature near the top and bottom of the oven, and the part’s temperature near the top, middle, and bottom. This results in an excellent visual representation of what is actually happening while the parts undergo the curing process. The data is then calculated to give a value that is used to determine the amount of cure of the powder paint.
Most often the oven is operating as expected, and the powder paint is getting enough time at curing temperature to fully crosslink. Some of the more common problems encountered are:
- The oven air temperature is not reaching what the oven is actually set at.
- The oven air temperature is varying from top-to-bottom. Sometimes 50°F or more.
- There are “cold” spots in the oven where the air temperature drops dramatically, and/or that sections of the oven are not working properly (conveyor set-up).
- The parts are not reaching the required cure temperature.
- The parts are not at the required cure temperature long enough to fully crosslink the paint.
- Lighter gauge metals are over curing, while heavier gauge parts are under curing.
- The oven is over curing all parts, and either needs to be turned down or line speed increased.
A regular Datapaq test is a great tool to ensure that the oven is outputting quality parts, that there will be no failures in the field due to curing issues, and to improve the overall efficiency of one of the more costly steps in the powder coating process.
Erie Powder Coatings recommends that an oven test is performed annually or more frequently if a problem is suspected. A test can be performed with minimal disruptions in day-to-day operations.
Erie Powder Coatings offers this as a free service to all of our customers. Please contact your sales rep or office to book yours today!
Josh Pieters
Sales Manger, Ontario
Continuing Education— General info on powder coatings.
Continuing Education
Quality Control Equipment: PART 1
This is from our ongoing series on educational information for coaters and users of powder coating.
A number of instruments are used for quality control in powder coating manufacturing and also in the coating process. Some of these are extremely complex measuring instruments, some are very basic. The information below is a brief summary of some of these instruments. Due to the length of this article, we have broken this into two sections.
What’s common with all of these instruments is that they all give some information on the quality and consistency of powder coatings, and they need to be calibrated to ensure that the data they give is accurate. And of course, they are only useful if they are first of all used, and then the results recorded.
There are also instruments used to give the information you may see on technical data specification sheets, that are not used on a day to day basis in quality control. Information such as salt spray testing is cited on most product specification sheets. However, the testing typically done for salt spray take several months to complete, so these instruments are not used on a daily basis to pass or fail powder coating products manufactured on line.
Here’s a list, and a short explanation, of some of the common instruments used for powder coatings quality control:
Thickness gauge: This is probably the most commonly used instrument in powder coating quality control. Thickness is specified on most every technical data sheet from most every powder coating manufacturer. It is cited on the specifications because the thickness of the powder is crucial to ensuring a powder coating will meet its requirements and expectations. For example, if a powder is sprayed too thin, it will look orange – peeled, if it is too thick, it will lose its flexibility.
 
Shown above, a digital thickness gauge at left, and a mechanical “banana” gauge at right.
Thickness gauges work in a couple of different ways, but will measure the thickness of the coating overtop of the metal. What’s crucial with these gauges?
Powder thickness gauges are designed to measure over ferrous materials (like steel) and / or non-ferrous (like aluminum) These instruments use a very different method to test thickness on aluminum than they do on steel, so the gauges cannot be used for both metals unless specifically designed for this. Some gauges can measure both ferrous and non-ferrous, these are combination instruments, others can only measure on one metal or the other. Either way, it is essential to understand whether your gage measures ferrous or non –ferrous and to use the right gauge for what you are coating.
Calibration on the spot is needed when using thinckness gauges – these gauges essentially “measure” the thickness of the metal, and then calculate the coating thickness. If you change the thickness of the metal, it will change the calculation of the coating thickness. That is, you can’t have an instrument calibrated for sheet metal, then measure coating thickness ½” plate steel and get a correct result.
Thickness gauges can be digital, or non-digital, and can range substantially in pricing. Very simple coating gauges can run in the range of a few hundred dollars, more expensive systems that might measure both ferrous and non-ferrous coating thickness, and provide software for quality control, might run well in excess of $1000.
This instrument is essential to any coating manufacturing or coating application operation.
Here’s a link to some of the gauges we use
http://www.defelsko.com/products/coating-thickness-gages.htm
Spectrophotometer: Spectrophotometers are used for color measurement and control. For coatings, they generally emit a bright light onto the surface, and measure the light reflected back to photo-sensors. The data is then converted to a measurement system so that it can be quantified. This is very similar to a human eye – the light from a light source such as a light bulb or the sun reflects from a surface, and your eye evaluates and defines the color. Most color quality control systems actually try to replicate human color perception and break down the data into information we understand visually.
Spectrophotometers will measure and give “absolute” color reflectance information. Most will give commonly used quality control or color measurement readings as well. Most coating suppliers use CIELab for color definition, and use “delta” values for quality control.
“Delta” values are simply color difference values from a measured standard coated panel to the test panel. Thus, if an absolute L (light) value is 71.5 measured on the standard panel, and the test panel measures at 71.1, then the “delta” value, used for quality control, would be -0.4 (ie, 0.4 units dark).
Of note and interest – most “absolute” values will vary from one test instrument manufacturer to another, but the delta values are usually fairly consistent from one instrument to another.
The color data can also be used in more complex software systems to predict color, for color development and product development. Systems that do this can be seen at most home paint stores, where they use simple versions of spectrophotometers and color prediction software to measure a sample that you might take in. The software system will then tell the paint mixer what to add to the paint base to make the color that matches.
Spectrophotometers tend to be fairly expensive, starting from a couple of thousand dollars for simple systems. The more complex hardware used by many powder manufacturing operations, but especially the color matching and adjustment software, can push pricing for these up to $30,000 – $40,000. Per instrument – many powder manufacturers may have multiple units and software installations.
These instruments are absolutely essential for powder manufacturers and developers. However, for many powder applicators, they are not always required. Higher quality locations doing work for automotive may require the use of spectrophotometers, but many coaters can simply use coated standard panels for a visual reference. The human eye has an excellent capacity to differentiate color difference, and this is often enough for a simple “pass/fail” of coatings from a powder coating line
Here’s the spectrophotometers used by Erie:
Contributing to this Newsletter
Brian Coutts is President and founder of Erie Powder Coatings EPC. Brian is a chemical engineer, Queen’s University in Kingston and is a proud father of three .
Phone: 905-957-4086
Email: bcoutts@eriepowder.com
Josh Pieters is the sales manager for Western Ontario. Josh has extensive experience in the sales of powder coatings, and has a strong technical background and experience in powder coating formulation
Phone: Contact: 905-902-1356
Email: jpieters@eriepowder.com