Industrial machinery in a workshop
If the surface tension of water-based industrial paint for equipment is not opened up after spraying, the film cannot flow flat before surface dry, the orange peel is marked, the gloss mottles after baking, the consistency of the whole machine's appearance is broken, and the coating quality and first-pass rate fall with it.
Chemi Tech supplies leveling agents for water-based industrial coatings and equipment coating systems, drawn from the leveling agent KMP-4500 series; the dosage is set by the viscosity of the coating, the film thickness and the method of spraying. KMP-4500 lowers surface tension markedly, keeps the dynamic surface tension of water-based systems under control as well, spreads the panel out once spraying is done, has little effect on gloss, and stays heat-stable through the baking stage without decomposing or yellowing. Chemi Tech compares leveling performance against the coating system and the method of spraying, and gives the customer the fitted leveling agent.
Advantages of Chemi Tech Leveling Agents
Chemi Tech leveling agent KMP-4500 series lowers surface tension markedly, so the film on the equipment housing spreads fully before surface dry and the orange peel is eased with it; and it keeps the dynamic surface tension of water-based systems under control as well, so the panel still spreads out under high-pressure spraying; moreover, it has little effect on gloss, so the gloss of the panel stays consistent after baking; in addition, it stays heat-stable through the baking stage without decomposing or yellowing, so panels come out the same colour batch after batch.
Industry Pain Points and Solutions
Orange peel in the coating of industrial equipment mostly comes from surface tension that has not been opened up; the consequence is a marked orange peel and gloss that mottles after baking.
The trickiest point is insufficient spreading under high-pressure spraying. Water-based industrial paint has a high surface tension, the film cannot flow flat before surface dry once sprayed, and the orange peel shows with it. Chemi Tech's answer is to add the KMP-4500, which lowers surface tension markedly, at the paint-adjustment stage, so that the film completes its spreading before surface dry.
The commonest point is gloss mottling after baking. When the film has not flowed flat, the gloss is uneven after baking and the panel mottles. KMP-4500 from Chemi Tech has little effect on gloss, and at normal dosage the gloss of the panel stays consistent after baking.
The core difficulty lies in the consistency of batch after batch. Spraying conditions differ slightly from machine to machine; if the flow window is narrow, the panel comes out uneven. Chemi Tech compares leveling performance against the method of spraying, and re-calibrates the dosage and the point of addition of the heat-stable KMP-4500, so that panels stay consistent batch after batch.
Typical Operating Conditions and Verification
Customer: an industrial coatings manufacturer in Jiangsu, for the let-down and matching of water-based industrial paint used in equipment coating.
At this plant the equipment housings showed a marked orange peel after spraying and mottled gloss after baking, and the appearance of the whole machine came out uneven. The solution Chemi Tech leveling agent gave for the situation was: taking the viscosity of the coating and the method of spraying into account, choose the KMP-4500 series, and re-calibrate the dosage and the point of addition to the spraying rhythm. Once the new dosage was in use, the orange peel on the panel fell markedly, the gloss mottling disappeared, and the appearance of the whole machine returned to the acceptable range.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will adding a leveling agent to water-based industrial paint affect the gloss and the colour after baking?
It does need watching, since at high dosage the leveling agent accumulates on the film surface and the gloss and colour may suffer after baking. For KMP-4500, Chemi Tech has run leveling and gloss comparisons at different dosages, and recommends only the dosage range at which both stay steady. The dosage is set by the spraying rhythm and the film thickness, and Chemi Tech gives a fitted recommendation according to the baking curve on site.