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Our comprehensive range of plant and equipment is able to meet the vast majority of requirements. This forms the core of our abilities to maintain consistently high quality that can be controlled, measured and repeated under all circumstances.
The majority of our coating systems are applied using conventional compressed air driven spraying techniques. The coatings are supplied as liquids and are decanted into either gravity fed or pressure fed spraying equipment.
Powder systems such as PFA and FEP are applied electrostatically, where the coating material (powder) and the part receive opposing electrical charges so that the powder will be attracted to the part. This is particularly useful where complex geometry is involved.
We have a range of curing ovens from premium manufacturer Hedinair, Marr and small, Carbolite laboratory ovens for R&D, sampling and prototype projects. The ovens are capable of curing temperatures ranging from slightly above ambient for temperature sensitive materials and up to 425°c, which is the absolute peak temperature that any Xylan® or Teflon® fluoropolymer coating will need.
Oven and substrate temperatures are carefully maintained by state of the art electronic controllers. These devices have separate thermocouples that continuously monitor and regulate the temperature of the oven and the coated parts so that the most accurate curing cycle is achieved. Over-temperature systems independently monitor the oven temperature to ensure that in the case of a thermocouple failure, the oven will shut down, eliminating any potential damage to the parts or coating.
Compressed air is delivered using modern Hydrovane equipment with a complex coalescing process to dry the compressed air and remove all traces of moisture and a further process that removes any oil mist to provide completely clean, breathable supply of compressed air to ensure no contamination is present that can be transferred to the coated parts.
Our spraying equipment is supplied by DeVilbiss and Binks, who are world leaders in the manufacture and supply of spray guns. Electrostatic powder coating equipment is supplied by Wagner and Gema, for applications such as pure or filled PFA and FEP fluoropolymer powders. These powders can be filled with pigments such as colour or mica (sparkle) for aesthetic purposes, ceramic for reinforcement or even carbon for electrical conductivity and dissipation of static in ATEX compliant applications.
We have a range of instruments for quality control, testing and measurement of coated parts. At the start of the process, we have tools that enable us to measure wet film thicknesses and then highly sophisticated instruments can measure cured coating thicknesses on most substrates to within fractions of a micron. We also have conventional micrometers and similar instruments to measure overall part dimensions.
Testing facilities include electronic pinhole detectors, in cases where a chemical barrier and or corrosion resistance or electrical insulation is required, coating hardness testing equipment and adhesion testing to ensure that the coating is adequately bonded to the substrate material – after all non-stick coatings are non-stick on both sides!
