India Surface Coating Show 2008
Technology is the key
Thomex.com
It's difficult to dissociate any business from the ongoing global economic crisis. In fact, both have become an extension of each other. But if one is able to gauge the potential of surface coating, whether pre or post-crisis, one realises the wide area it covers - from automobile, oil and gas, heavy machinery, mining to manufacturing sector. It was keeping this in mind that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a two-day International Conference on new challenges faced by the sector here in Delhi from Nov 20-21, 2008.The conference which was titled 'Latest trends & innovations in surface coating technologies - Global and Indian perspective' was participated by a large number of delegates cutting across sectors from different parts of the country. The conference also witnessed an intense question-answer session and saw new line of thought emerging from audience to find innovative solutions to the old industry problems.The conference covered a wide range of subjects related to surface coating including new developments in pre-treatment technology, painting processes and equipment, advancement in pre-treatment technology, environment and safety aspects and other issues. The conference was sponsored by Kansai Nerolac Paints, Chemetall-Rai India, Taikisha, Nordson, Grand Polycoats, Durr India and others.While giving his presentation on 'smart solutions for paint shop technology', Tejinder Singh Chadha of Taikisha Engineering, highlighted the major concern being faced by the industry, which included environment protection, cost reduction and quality improvement. While giving solution for environment protection, he highlighted the factors like reduction in VOC, low noise booth and TKS RTO system. He said that flexible production and cost reduction could be achieved by ED paint thickness control and three stage (Wet on Wet) painting.Didier Brouckaert, Director Exports Coventya SAS, France, while speaking on non-cyanide alkaline zinc/zinc alloys for fasteners, highlighted that Non Cyanide Zinc (NCZ) when compared with Cyanide (CZ) and Acid Chloride Zinc (ACZ) offers better corrosion performance because NCZ-based zinc layer is crystalline columnar structure, the metal distribution is much better and the organic co-deposition during plating is much lower. Brouckaert said that the chromium conversion layer formation is best in NCZ vs. ACZ, due to fewer tendencies to passivate during transfer from plating to passivation stage. He recommended following process sequence for non cyanide alkaline Zinck: Pre-wash, hot de-greasing, pickling with hydrochloric acid/sulphuric acid, pickling accelerators, anodic cleaning, 5% acid neutralisation dip, activation dip, plating, bright dip, Trivalent passivation and top coat.Deliberating on future trends in pre-treatment technology, Masayasu Ara of Thai Parkerizing Company highlighted the role of a pallucide which was phosphate-free, needed less treating time, provided thinner amorphous coating by conversion reaction and generated less sludge. The other crucial point Ara noted was that the quality of water rinse after degreasing should be controlled. As degreasing stage becomes much more important, it was imperative to select chemicals after considering substates, paint systems and application method. Generating Fe component in the bath should be kept under certain level only, Ara noted in his presentation.Avinash Kulkarni, Director, Intech Surface Coating, while making his presentation on innovation in painting plant technology highlighted stop and flow type operation with power & free conveyor. He said the technology finds application in powder/paint coating of large article where article area is large & difficult for online continuous coating painting without usage of automatic applicators, e.g. cupboards, welded panels and transformers, etc. Detailing the advantages of the system, Kulkarni said that all activities such as loading, unloading, coating and curing can be independent and articles can be stopped at various stations for specific time. Total material handling system can be automated and PLC controlled.While Louis Van Schie, Managaing Director, Suparator Systems, Europe spoke on the role of Suparator, the environment-friendly oil separation system, Vivek Sarawadekar of Kansai Nerolac Paints spoke about the new development in power coating technology. |
