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Surface coating technology of FRP products

FRP products have poor weather resistance, wear resistance, and low hardness, which limits their application. However, the market needs FRP products with good appearance and high-cost performance. There are two ways to solve the defects of FRP products: internal modification and surface coating.

Internal modification: Use high-performance resin matrix and additives to reinforce fibers to improve the quality of FRP. This method is costly.
Surface coating: During or after the molding process of FRP products, various materials with high performance or certain specific functions are used to modify, protect, or give new functions to the surface to improve the quality and competitiveness of the products. The surface is high-quality and multifunctional without changing the product formula and process conditions of FRP.

Most FRP surface coating protection adopts simple methods such as spraying paint or spraying gel coat, but the quality is poor and requires frequent maintenance. High-performance FRP surface protection refers to coating technology with high decorativeness, heavy corrosion resistance, super weather resistance, functionalization, and easy construction. High-performance FRP surface protection has the following requirements:

Coatings (environmentally friendly): water-based coatings, powder coatings, high solids and solvent-free coatings;
Environmentally friendly coating processes: spray coating, in-mold coating (IMC);
Six factors to consider when selecting coatings: coating purpose, working environment, construction conditions, adherence to the "saving" principle, matching, and environmental protection requirements.

At present, there are promising FRP surface coating processes:

1 Dip coating and spray coating process
Dip coating is suitable for small, regular-looking workpieces; while spray coating is suitable for workpieces with large surface areas and regular shapes. This method is used to coat FRP products, and the coating surface quality is good and the investment is not high. The key points of this technology are: that the heating temperature and the number of additives during the coating configuration are controlled, and the coating quality is closely related to the coating viscosity and plasticizing temperature. The quantitative indicators of dip coating and spray coating processes are preferably film thickness 0.1~0.15mm. The technology is to use inorganic water-based paint. The price of this paint is high and the one-time investment is large, but the protective and decorative effects are very good. The volatile matter after painting is water, there is no environmental pollution, and the coating can be self-cleaning.

2 Spraying process
The electrostatic spraying has high coating efficiency, uniform coating, and low pollution, which is suitable for large-scale automatic coating production lines. Due to the development of various high-performance, medium, and low-temperature curing powder coatings, the application prospects of this process in FRP are promising. The technical difficulty lies in the problem of static electricity conduction of FRP.
The hot melt spraying process is developed by combining the "plastic coating process" and "performance of FRP products". It is similar to the electrostatic spraying process but omits the static electricity conduction requirements for FRP products in electrostatic spraying, and the powder plasticization temperature is low. Because of the above advantages, this process is suitable for FRP products with larger substrates. The technical key lies in the pre-treatment process and substrate temperature of the FRP surface.
The powder dipping process is mainly used for surface coating of high-temperature resistant thick-walled FRP products, especially products with special functional requirements, to increase the function of the products.

3 In-mold coating technology
This technology omits the secondary primer process and the required equipment, avoids the pollution of volatile solvents, and solves the defects of conventional molded products and secondary coating, such as pinholes and bubbles. It is currently a high-level surface coating technology in the world, mainly used in SMC molded products.