PAINT & POWDER
From Solventbourne to Waterbourne
The Company
The company is part of a multinational company which is a leader in the production of agricultural machinery and earth moving plant .
This factory in particular produces a complete line of excavators for construction with high levels of quality and power .
It is a well organised company with precise requirements in terms of production efficiency , planning and quality .
The Requirement
The problem which had to be resolved depended on two requirements . One was to comply with the law regarding atmospheric emissions and the other was to be in a position to deal with the considerable increase in production taking place at that time .
For some years the company had already been moving in this direction using high solid content paints produced by Inver to paint its machines and all their components , thus reducing emissions into the environment considerably .
The aim of the project was the drastic reduction of emissions of solvent with water soluble paint products having qualitative chemical and physical properties at least as good as those of the paint already being used .
Further limits were imposed by the need to avoid making substantial and costly modifications to the plant as there were already plans for the construction of a new painting plant .
The Method
With this input the technical experts of Inver started investigating products and processes which would have to be suitable for the conditions present in the various painting lines : pre-treatments , application systems , process and drying times with masses of differing thermal inertia to be painted .
All this required considerable analysis , simulation and chemical-physical tests which covered all the variables possible .
It also became necessary to consult with the client ' s technicians continually regarding the necessary tests , making use of their specific knowledge of the limits of the plant and the various operative requirements .
After a thorough analysis of the results obtained and considering every possibility , plans were made for replacing the solvent paint cycle with the Inver PUR / A system .
Production requirements would not allow a stop for substitution of the paint cycles and so it was decided to do this work at the weekend when the plant was not running from Friday evening to Sunday .
On Monday morning production had to resume with the new water based system .
Preparations were made for washing of all the pipes using washing cycles with specific additives , the new paint application equipment was installed and the plant was “ filled ” with the new water soluble products .
The Results
Production resumed regularly on Monday morning without any discards and at the normal rate of production .
Production was monitored by Inver technicians throughout the day and technical backup was provided for the first few days of production during which period the application was optimised so that it could give the best qualitative performance .
The client ' s expectations and requirements were completely satisfied :
Atmospheric emissions were reduced to a level well under the required limit .
The quality of the paint cycle in terms of adherence , hardness , elasticity and salt spray remained unchanged , or even better , compared to the solvent paint cycle .
The cycle times and drying temperatures were maintained thus avoiding costly work on the plant .
Moreover , just as for high solid content cycle , it was possible to use a single type of catalyst for both the primer and the enamel with obvious advantages in terms of operation and handling .
Visit : www . inver . com
46 SEPTEMBER 2021 read online : www . surfaceworld . com