One of the most important factors influencing paint adhesion and corrosion resistance is surface preparation. To ensure optimum performance and long-term environmental resistance, metal substrates must be free of organic and inorganic contaminants. To prepare a surface one can basically choose between 2 options, blasting or chemical pretreatment.

 

1. Mechanical/Blasting – Abrasive particles (sand, grit or metal oxides) are projected against the surface with a stream of air. The character or quality of the treatment is affected by duration of the blast; shape and size of the blasting media; particle velocity; and the hardness, porosity and other substrate properties. A metal surface treatment of blasting ensures a uniformly cleaned surface and good paint adhesion but lacks corrosion resistance on the substrate.

 

1. Chemical processes, on the other hand, utilize organic and inorganic chemicals to achieve two reactions: • Dissolve, suspend or eliminate soils and surface contaminants. • Convert metal surfaces from the essentially free metallic state into metallic compounds.New option: Combining the worlds of blasting and chemical processingCurrently, AD Chemicals, a subdivision of the Dutch AD, International launches a revolutionary new product on the global grit/sand blasting market. This product is called PreCoat F31/20 suitable for the treatment of substrate steel and PreCoat Z31/20 for the substrates aluminum and galvanized steel. PreCoat is a chemical treatment applied directly after grit/sand blasting or metallization (also referred to as metal spraying). This product portfolio is the result of an R&D trajectory of more than 8 years. PreCoat F31/20 and Z31/20 significantly improve the quality of sandblasted or metallized products.

It has two main benefits; by applying the product directly after grit/sand blasting, a conversion layer is created that substantially improves the adhesion of the painting system (suitable for wet painting and powder coating) and significantly enhances the corrosion-protection resistance properties of the paint system as a whole. The application procedure of PreCoat is very easy and can be easily integrated in every business processes.

The innovative aspect of these products is that it combines the worlds of grit/sand blasting and chemical pre-treatment.

PreCoat F31/20 and Z31/20 are based on PreCoat Z31, a product that won the Dutch Innovation Award for surface treatment, ION Borghardt Award 2016.

AD Chemicals is introducing this product on the worldwide market. The first user responses are very promising. A large blasting company in the Netherlands stated: “With this product I am able to improve to overall quality of my products and therefore offer my customers more value. It is a tool to distinguish myself in a competitive market place”

Besides that the responses from our agents in Spain and the UK are very promising.

As products are better protected against corrosion, the product lifetime increases and thereby lowers the ecological footprint. See below the pictures after 500 hours salt spray testing where the difference is demonstrated between the regular automated grit blasting process and the grit blasting process with PreCoat treatment.

Want to know more about this innovation? E-mail to chemicals@adinternatonalbv.com