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Surface Defects

Rejects from coating lines can come from a substrate defect, a surface contaminant or a coating material defect. Process controls should be implemented upstream of the coating line to prevent a defective substrate from entering the line. If a substrate is defective and has entered the coating line, it is important to recognize the source of the blemish and not waste time trying to fix the coating process to correct a pre-existing substrate condition. Dirt on the surface of a coated part is a major concern for all coaters. Dirt may come from the air around the spray environment, from the application equipment or it may be in the coating material. If a defect is from contaminated coating material or manufacturing byproducts that have not been removed by the cleaning process it will be evenly distributed and, if it is an external source, the defect will more likely be random. Dirt in a powder coating can be screened out. Rotary sieves or vibratory sieves can be used to filter power fed from the collector module. Integrated screeners can be built into collector modules. Even an allmanual operation can screen powder by putting it through a stainless steel screen before loading it into the feed hopper. Powder should always be screened. Reclaim needs to screened to eliminate dust that has entered the booth. Virgin material should be screened to make sure that there are no chips or contaminants in the box. Dirt from ineffective pretreatment can usually be corrected by changes in the process or control of the pretreatment system. Soils that are on the part from the manufacturing process that cannot be removed by a spray washer can usually be tracked to the source so a change can be made to eliminate them. Air borne contaminants are the hardest to track and eliminate because they can come from so many different sources. Keeping a clean environment around the system is one of the best ways to reduce air borne dirt.

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Electrostatically applied powder can entrain airborne dirt and deposit it on the parts. The list below names some of the common sources of airborne contamination. 1. People Air sampling of enclosed coating systems has shown that as much as 80% of the airborne contamination comes from the clothing, hair and shoes of personnel. 2. Nature Pollen, road dust and other outdoor dirt are sometimes brought into the plant through doors, windows and unfiltered air supply systems. 3. The Building Concrete floors may wear and give off dust. 4. Manufacturing Mechanical operations in the manufacturing process may generate dust, metal shavings, or wood dust. 5. Process Equipment The conveyor, the oven, the washer or other operations within the coating line can generate or concentrate dirt that will create a defect. With all of these potential sources, the job of coating a part with no defects is a challenge to say the least. Here are some ways to help control dirt on coated parts. The level of dirt prevention that an operation adopts is directly related to their quality standards. In many general industrial applications it is not necessary to reach the highest level of cleanliness. However, in automotive facilities or other industries where quality levels are very demanding it may be necessary to adopt all of the following suggestions. 1. Restrict access to the coating area or clean room to essential personnel as much as possible. Have all entrants to the powder room put on non-lint paper suits, hairnets and shoe covers. 2. Isolate the coating application area from the rest of the plant and supply filtered air to the enclosure that will create a slight positive pressure in the room to prevent air from infiltrating through the product openings. 3. Have the concrete floors sealed in the area where workers put on their paper suits and in the powder room. Build a vestibule at the entrance to the powder room and add deionizing air in the vestibule to neutralize the workers before they enter.

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4. Clean all surfaces in the room as frequently as necessary to avoid an accumulation of dust. 5. In overhead-conveyorized systems, use an inverted box track conveyor or a sanitary pan under the conveyor. Use an automatic lubrication system with a dry-film, penetrating lubricant and do not over-lubricate. Clean the conveyor and chain components regularly with brushes or water blasting. 6. Filter the return air in the oven by installing a filtration bank in the return air opening of the burner box. Clean oven interior regularly (once a week). 7. One of the keys in controlling dirt is to use good recording and tracking of dirt rejects. Fiber, metal shavings, paper, and dust are examples of types of contaminants. Rejected parts should be recorded and categorized by the type of defect. The source of the dirt should be tracked and eliminated. Dirt Control Plan The best way to control dirt rejects is a formal dirt control plan. This holds for installations that have very high quality standards and find that the dirt level is too high. This involves the formation of a dirt team and establishment of specific goals to be achieved. Dirt Defect Analysis & Reduction In order to analysis and reduce dirt on the product, the dirt team starts out with the development of a set of objectives. The objectives are the foundation of the activity of the dirt team. Objectives First of all, it is necessary to categorize dirt rejects in specific terms. Generally listing a reject as dirt will not help to lead to reduction of contamination. Only when the contaminant is accurately identified can the source be determined. Cotton fiber, condensate, copper, sulfur, phosphate, metal shavings, rust flakes, old paint chips, etc. These are acceptable categories of dirt rejects. When the dirt is identified, it can help to lead to the source. Once the source is known, corrective action can be taken. The steps to be followed are:

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1. Characterize contamination that causes defects 2. Identify the most probable sources 3. Establish appropriate corrective action to minimize or eliminate problems Requirements Corporate, plant and paint area management must be committed to dirt training, analysis and reduction activities for the coating system. The shop is recognized and treated as a separate, special factory environment. Coating processes are monitored for consistency. It is essential to follow these two principals: 1. Must be ongoing process 2. Must have management support If the process starts and stops the results will not be satisfactory. If management does not support the effort its effectiveness will be limited. Dirt Control Process The process of dirt control involves the application of continuous improvement techniques. Development of charts that identify the problems and formal problem solving continually reduce the sources of dirt. Continuous improvement techniques are applied to the process All coating line personnel are aware of how their work performance impacts the product Continuous improvement is a formal process that seeks opportunities for better performance. All coating line personnel, including rackers, applicators, quality control workers, packagers, hi-lo drivers and technicians need to understand their role in quality output. The Dirt Analyst A dirt analyst leads this effort. The dirt analyst coordinates and administrates a continuous effort to reduce rejects. He/she should meet the following criteria: A production worker Not subject to job rotation

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Highly motivated A good communicator Provides training for others Applies Statistical Process Control methods to monitoring dirt levels Develops facility and process investigative techniques

Facilities Maintenance Relating to Dirt It is essential to practice planned maintenance to keep the system running smoothly and keep the yield high. Planned maintenance means having a schedule for the necessary cleaning, adjusting and repair of the system components. The time, materials and people required for the job are determined and assigned to maintenance as a regular part of their job. The line operators can often perform maintenance at the end of each shift. Here are some examples of things that are part of the planned maintenance program. Oven & booth Cleaning Filter Changes Inspection/replacement of wear parts Washer Chemical titration Nozzle maintenance Clean screens Empty bag filters Descaling Conveyor Check lubricator reservoir Clean chain and rail General housekeeping Problem solving techniques Preventive maintenance Dirt reduction is related to focused cleaning and maintenance. Focused cleaning requires allocation of time and resources. Process Monitoring Process monitoring is necessary to chart results. Documentation provides the necessary information used to make progress.

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Dirt count Count dirt defects on a consistent number of parts each day, randomly selected. Use a Flow Diagram: pretreat-prime-base coat-clear coat-cure Arrange on SPC chart (upper control, mean, lower control) Dirt identification (Pareto) Dirt reference handbook Dirt analysis data sheet Date Time Process Color Communicate results Use SPC Chart as a Monitoring Device Statistical Process Control (SPC) is the tool that establishes the operating guidelines. It is used to analyses a process or its output. Process outputs are monitored to evaluate the operation. If the operation needs adjustment it will be revealed by the process monitoring methods so that corrective action can be taken before large amounts of production are made with defects. The technique involves predicting output based on control of variables, sampling, feedback from samples, and controls that keep the process within acceptable range. Pretreatment, application, and curing need to be monitored and controlled for predictable results. Keep the following ideas in mind. Recognize when process is out of control Have mechanism to correct out of control process Correlate process changes with trend in dirt levels Control of the powder material, the pretreatment chemistry, the equipment, the environment, and the people that run the system is needed for the highest possible level of quality. The development of a formal SPC program begins with the establishment of a steering committee. Like the dirt team, the steering committee sets objectives for the group. SPC requires some training in data collection and reporting techniques. The team will learn these techniques, use them to break down the process and select control

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Powder Material

Surface Defects

Powder as received

Powder film

General condition, particle size, moisture content, fluidization pressure, hiding ability Film thickness, color, gloss, hardness, texture, uniformity, performance Hardness, purity Composition, concentration Organics, encrustations, processing materials, oxides, etc. Pressures, process times, solution temperatures Air temperature, part temperature, process time Voltage, current draw, flow rates, atomizing pressure, gun-to-target distance, nozzle type, ground Air velocity, filter condition, amount of powder in the collector Size, design, number of parts, type of contact Air volume, pressure, moisture content Cleanliness, line speed, hanging centers Indoor air quality, temperature, humidity, lighting, housekeeping, air flow, AMU Temperature, humidity, lighting, cleanliness, air flow Air flow, cleanliness Organization, work flow, packaging Lighting Skills, commitment, physical health Position of product in booth, manual application, automatic set-up

Pretreatment

Water quality Chemicals Soils to be removed

Equipment

Pretreatment system Dry-off oven Powder application

Powder booth & recovery

Racking Air compressor Conveyor Environment Plant

Powder application

Ovens Load/unload area QC inspection area People Capability Technique

Table 1 Typical Variables that Affect Output

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characteristics. Gauges are developed to provide the necessary measurement of the characteristics selected. Data is collected with the gauges and used to build charts. The charts are read and used for corrective action when necessary. The results are monitored to verify the results of the program. Dirt Identification Dirt can be identified through the use of microscopes. Magnified pictures and real size pictures can be used to develop a reference book for dirt identification. Only when the defect is identified can the best possible solution be discovered. Use shop microscope to identify defects on-line (paint chip, cotton fiber, sanding dust, gun spit, synthetic fiber, metal shaving, oil, etc.) Remove sample of defect for further analysis Use stereo microscope to identify difficult defects and to create documentation Use scanning electron microscope to analyze defect and compare to reference for positive ID Process Analysis Diagrams and charts are used to analysis the process for the source of the identified substance. Use Flow Diagrams to find the root cause of the dirt Use Cause and Effect Charts as tools to guide you
Figure 8-3 Flow Diagram Unfinished Part Load Part Pretreatment Dry-off Application Curing Unloading Finished Part

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Figure 8-4 Pareto Chart of Rejects

Monitor Trends after Process Changes Monitoring is essential to chart the impact of changes. Pareto charts can be used to compare the relative importance of the various problems. Work on biggest problem first Make only one change at a time Allow enough time and take a big enough sample for the trend to be evident (minimum 20 days) Recalculate Mean & Control limits Update Pareto Chart Go on to next biggest problem Dirt Team The dirt team works together to study problems, develop action plans, implement solutions and monitor the results. Members come from all areas of the paint operation. Dirt analyst Production operator Production supervisor Process engineer Maintenance Quality representative Suppliers Management

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Organization for dirt reduction Identifies problems and works on solutions Focused on continuous improvement

Racking

Design and maintenance of the fixtures that hold the parts as they travel through the coating system is frequently a source of quality defects. In order to provide the highest possible level of efficiency and quality a rack should be thought of as a tool. Issues to Consider in the Design & Care of Parts Racks Racks will be used in an industrial environment; make them sturdy. If the parts can swing on the rack, they may hit each other in the oven and cause a blemish in the coating. Tubing used for rack frames can trap water in the washer; if it boils out in the cure oven it will stain the coating. For electrostatic application, contact points must always be clean to provide good ground. Coating build-up on racks can crack and create dirt defects. Coating build-up on contact points will interfere with electrostatic attraction. To maintain a low level of defects on the coated parts, the tooling must have a low level of defects. Good original design and good rack maintenance will contribute to yield. Electrostatic contact points should be designed to make sure they provide a certain ground to the parts. Missing contacts should be replaced and bent frames straightened so that the work package is consistent in relationship to the application equipment. Heavy build-up on racks should be avoided by a planned schedule for stripping racks and by making sure that there are enough racks to manage production while racks are in the strip cycle.

System Process Controls

There are many variables that can affect the performance of coating system. Each performance variable must have a defined process control method in order to maintain peak efficiency. For example, the

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Summary

gun-to-target distance, flow rate and gun position is all very important in powder spray application. Yet many operations use the same gun settings for a wide variety of product. To avoid dry-spray, runs, light coats and excessive film, guns need adjustment for part geometry and density. Parts can be grouped into families with similar characteristics but unless all of the parts are very similar, some adjustment is necessary to achieve the best possible results. If a part is run by the spray guns at a distance of 8 and a second part is run by at 12 with no flow adjustment, the film thickness and texture will be different. Some materials must have a consistent film thickness to provide the proper color and gloss. The same rules apply to other areas of the operation. The washer chemistry must be controlled within a certain range, pressures may need adjustment, etc. Cure ovens need cleaning, calibration, filter changes and possibly temperature adjustment from one product to the next. Rules for Development of Process Control 1. Identify the performance variable 2. Determine an acceptable range of performance 3. Develop a plan to maintain the predetermined performance range 4. Monitor results and adjust as necessary The idea of process control is not new. But many coating operations do not practice good control techniques. For example, everyone should recognize that good ground is critical to the performance of electrostatics. Yet many companies do not have a plan for checking and confirming that they are consistently providing good ground. In fact, many coaters do not have good ground and dont realize it because they do not have any provision for routine measurement!

Summary

Quality on the coating line is primarily common sense and hard work. Follow these guidelines and the system should perform at the desired level.

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1. Select the right equipment to meet quality goals. 2. Operate and adjust the equipment to maintain peak levels of performance on all parts. 3. Control the process to reduce variance to the lowest possible level. 4. Clean and maintain the system on a scheduled basis that is consistent with quality goals. Consistent maintenance of film thickness, color, gloss, texture, coverage, hardness and corrosion resistance comes from knowing what it takes to achieve it and controlling the system variables to get there. Learn everything you can about your equipment and process and run it with tight control. Remember that the sources of defects do not rest. Airborne dirt, condensate, and rust are at work all the time. The only way to beat them is to be thorough and relentless. Set your standards high. Do not accept performance that is inferior to anyone else who does the same job. Make your goal to be the best in your business.

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