Paints and coatings giant Akzo Nobel has installed a purpose-built infra-red oven, from Heraeus Noblelight, in its R&D laboratory at Felling, Tyne and Wear.
The oven forms part of a lab-scale powder coating line designed to carry out R&D into coating finishing operations and to help customers optimise coating processes.
The coating line is impressive, having been equipped with the latest equipment, including an ITW Gema powder coating system, a product conveying system, convection drying ovens and the Heraeus oven – the latter for pre-gel heating before products enter the convection oven, pre-heating of product or full coating cure usage.
"We need to simulate virtually every powder heating and curing condition that our customers experience, in order to provide them with optimum solutions," explains Neil Engward, Akzo Nobel's project leader.
"We also need the line's coating process flexibility to ensure that the powder research work we carry out to improve our products can be replicated in the field," he adds.
