|
Synthetic Coating
On this subject one would probably have expected something like a cool wheel-rim, the frame of an old-timer or that of a motorcycle, now you're wondering, just what a Smart Crossblade has to do with things. Right, it
shows one application of the powder coating which is not obvious to everyone at first sight, it is however, very important.
What is meant here is the relatively narrow plastic windscreen, which is probably a premiere, because, as far as we know, all windscreens of this type are made of glass. In the course of many thousands of
kilometers of fine dust hitting the windscreen and the friction of the windscreen-wipers, they are often replaced because of wear-and-tear and not because they are broken or cracked.
Why then make them out of plastic? It all started with the headlamps, where glass has also, e.g., to save weight, been slowly replaced by plastic. This is of course, only possible using a special coating, one which can
compete with the service life of glass. In the case of the Crossblade, one has simply gone one step further. Who knows, when the development will reach the normal vehicle.
Powder- or synthetic coating is the correct description. In addition, this basically covers among other things, all varnishes, either high gloss or semi-gloss, with which an accordingly charged, clean metal surface is
coated using compressed air and a very high tension to distribute the sysnthetic particles evenly.
| A high acid resistance is also very important. |
The, typical for this type of cohesion to the base metal, is finally achieved by the baking process (approx. 170°C). At this point, it becomes clear that we're not talking about paint, but rather duroplastics. It also has a
certain resemblance to sintering, a process with which, e.g., especially hard cutting-tool edges are produced.
One can easily imagine, that the preliminary preparation has a far greater importance than when spray-painting. However, with the expensive tools and oven-rooms (depending on the dimensions), just about all the
disadvantages are covered. With this process, one achieves a very high durability and of course, there is no difference compared to the gloss of a spray-job.
However, in everyday use, with such a solid binding to the base-metal, problems can arise when repairing, because the exposing- and re-sealing of the repair area is very much more complicated. Also the baking
temperature poses a problem, because it is incompatible with tin-plated surfaces. 06/09
|
|
