The Coil Coating Process: Prepainted Steel And Aluminum

Coil coating refers to the process of creating prepainted steel and aluminum. Prepainted steel or aluminum can be found in a high number of household products. From refrigerators to air conditioners and construction material, prepainted steel can be found everywhere. Different coatings can be applied for different demands.

“In some coatings, you are going to need more exterior environment weathering, flexibility, and more impact resistance than you do with other coatings,” says Aaron Small, Corporate Vice President at Kloeckner Metals U.S. and President of the National Coil Coating Association (NCCA). “If we’re going to do roofing and sidewalls, we would often choose either a fluorocarbon, siliconized polyester, or modified polyesters.”

Coil Coating: The Basics

Coil coating is how the coating material is applied to the strip of steel or aluminum. A coil of metal sheet is continuously fed into the process which is controlled via accumulators at each end of the line. They take in a bare coil of metal at one end and let out the finished product on the other end. In the middle, the coil coating process is applied.

“What we do is actually referred to as high-speed, continuous coil coating,” Small says. “What makes high-speed, continuous coil coating possible is the non-stop application of the cleaning, the treating, the coating, the curing, and potentially the leveling, while the sheet is flat, all in one high-speed path through a coil coating line.”

The Key to Coil Coating

The key is being able to maintain a constant speed of the strip through the process. The accumulators allow this by letting the middle of the line to continue running at the prescribed rate while new metal is added at the decoil end, or the finished product is removed from the recoil end of the line.

“You don’t have starts and stops,” Small says. “This allows our coaters to consistently clean, treat, seal, apply a paper-thin coating, cure it evenly, and cool it back down without burning the metal or the coating.”

The Uses Of Aluminum Coil

Aluminum is a truly remarkable metal. Due to its signature properties (malleability, rust and corrosion resistance, etc.) countless individuals have taken aluminum and have used it for numerous applications. If you are like many, it can be difficult to understand what exactly the uses of aluminum coil are. Do not worry. Wrisco has prepared a small list of industries and practices that rely on aluminum coil to get the job done. So if you are curious to know what the uses of aluminum coil are, then continue reading below.

THE USES OF ALUMINUM COIL

TRANSPORTATION

You might be surprised to find out that the construction of most forms of transportation is actually made with aluminum coil. Transportation vehicles such as automobiles and cars are manufactured from aluminum coils. This is because such vehicles will require components that are lightweight, durable and not rust easily since they will be used daily. Parts of most transportation vehicles that rely on aluminum coil for construction include engine components, air conditioners, radiators, wheel hubs, car doors and much more.

ARCHITECTURAL DECORATION

Thanks to its corrosion resistance, strength, and incredible processing and welding performance, aluminum coil will be often utilized a lot for architectural decoration. Other than surface decoration, most building projects rely on aluminum coil to help design structures, doors, windows, ceilings, curtain wall profiles, pressure plates, color coating sheets, etc.

ELECTRONIC APPLIANCES

Although this metal is not as electrically conductive as copper, aluminum coils are often utilized within many electronics. Aluminum is often particularly used in wiring as their corrosion resistance guarantees that wires will last for a long time. This is why objects such as power lines and air conditioners with electrical components are able to withstand the elements for a long time. This is why most electronics, in general, have a fairly long lifespan.

FOOD INDUSTRY

The main reason why food cans are made with aluminum coils is because of aluminum’s malleability, rust and corrosion resistance. Thanks to its malleability, aluminum cans are able to be easily manufactured in mass quantities. Due to its rust and corrosion resistance, aluminum is able to guarantee that the food within the can will be able to stay fresh for a long time. Besides cans, aluminum coils aid in the production of lid caps, bottles and other packaging.

AND MUCH MORE

Aluminum is such a versatile metal. Because of this, aluminum coils are utilized for a wide variety of reasons. Though we have listed some applications above, there are many more industries and practices that aluminum coils are used for. If you find that you need a metal type to help assist you in the production or function of a certain object or item, you very likely might just benefit from purchasing aluminum coil.