Plaforization

I will start out by admitting I sell pretreatment chemistry but not this process. I waited to see if anyone would post on this before I responded.� I do have a friend who has been using this technology for several years and likes the technology. I have ask him to answer your post but in case he does not, this is what he told me.

They manufacture products for the military and are a captive house, which means they control the soil load entering the process. He thought his bombs were clean but discovered they have to clean each bomb with a solvent based cleaner with a mop before entering the process. They did not do this at first and fouled the bath and had to dump and recharge about a month after first starting up.

He also dumps half of his bath every year and replenishes with fresh material. He then uses the dumped material during the year to replenish the bath, any excess is disposed of at the end of the year.

His goal was to replace the zinc phosphate system with this material but he has to run both processes because he can not run enough material through the line. This could be because they sized the line to small or because the hand cleaning of the parts has slowed down the process, honestly I do not know which.

He is able to pass the salt spray tests for his parts. I do also know of a company on the East Coast who ran aluminum and had a lot of salt spray problems. They had field failures like crazy.

The technology has been around for a long time and it is a viable technology but like any it has issues. If you are a job shop that requires extended salt spray or�manufacture a product with�outside exposure I would look at other technologies. If you can take some parts to a company in your area using the process, I would recommend you do that, then paint and perform quality testing.

Another source is to ask the paint vendors you deal with for their opinion. Since they do not sell the technology they will not be biased.

Honestly, a huge part of your success with any new process is selecting the correct vendor. You will need to be able to depend on them to be there when you need them as well as be able to trust this person to be honest with you. Check out the vendor as well but do remember that we are not perfect.

I hope this information has helped you out.

Diane Patterson
ABrite Company

Hold on here- guys and gals…..I have personally seen several successful installations for the Plaforization process. I have seen the lab, met the inventor, know happy customers, and know the distributors in the US, who I also consider friends. So if they aren’t going to weigh in here, I will.

As I said - I have had the privilege of touring several facilities around Italy, some of which have been using this product successfully for decades, and have heard (yes in English) testaments to its capabilities from end users - first hand. Let us not forget how powerful a personal testament can be from an end user…. especially when you are standing right there on their floor where the technology is being used. I also heard dozens more success stories directly from end users themselves as a guest at the French SITS EXPO …..Oh yea – and speaking of end users I’d love to see the facility in Texas weigh in on their satisfaction level with this pretreatment technology.

This product does work “in the proper application”, “with proper application”…. That is “Used for the right thing in the right way” for all ya’ll out there in Tennessee land.

First don’t forget its more obvious benefits like being a single step process (smaller footprint) that if used in the right instances can save time not to mention disposal costs and analytical time.

Then you also have to consider other unique benefits it has to offer as well…. like it can be an absolute blessing to someone who doesn’t have access to water, sewer, or treatment abilities. Heck it could even be a deal maker/breaker in a situation where there was no water, but was work for powder coating. Remember in most of the rest of the world (and one day soon in the US) water is an incredibly precious commodity.

Then there is the whole thermal energy savings thing from not having to heat and maintain temp in your pre-treat solutions? Have you seen the power bills of some of these powder shops out there…? Sometimes the monthly is more than I paid for my house….in total. Any energy conservation can be a good thing when you think about it in this light, with those kinds of figures….and this problem is only getting worse in the US.

And lastly don’t forget…just like every chemical distributor I’ve ever met, all distributors have several variations that make up a product line. If I’m not mistaken there is a new Plaforization product being trialed on the market right now that is set to achieve an acceptable outdoor SS spec…. and I for one look forward to hearing more about it. In fact I hope to see it working first hand on my next trip to Europe.

In the end I just want to leave anyone reading this with two points to remember – 1.) in my view, the Europeans are about 10 years ahead of the US in Surface Finishing,- and 2.) make sure that all factors are considered when you choose your pretreatment method. It really does matter.

Matt,

Thank you very much for your insight and shared experience with plaf.

Travis

Hi Brian, My name is Mary Carpenter, from Carpenter Chemicals, which supplies the Plaforization and the new Toran pretreatments. I have been following your posts and thought I might offer answers to your last questions.

As to blow-off, the best thing is to allow sufficient time for drip-off so that there is only a little dripping going on and then blow off the last bit. Doing it too early will blow it around some, and may waste some material. It is somewhat thicker than water.

As to the cleaning action, the solvents are designed to help with the washing to get the fines and oils off. If you have fairly stuck-on material such as deburring debris, you may need a little extra time and/or you may want the pressure up closer to the 5 PSI. Generally, the only real problems we see are things like baked-on, old oils.

We could always test a part for you, although you say you have already tested some B700. Anyway, if you want to, you could give me a call at 703-683-1570. I promise - no pressure. Just information.

-Mary Carpenter