Dust, oil and moisture in the coating booth ruin a fluoropolymer film. A dirty booth causes pinholes, adhesion failure and contamination. The coating must be done in a clean, controlled, dedicated booth.
The heater is blasted, cleaned and coated in the booth. The air is filtered, and the humidity is controlled. Material-selection service specifies the booth conditions. At each batch, the booth cleanliness is logged. Procurement requires the booth record.
A clean booth gives a dense, defect-free film. The pre-treated filler stays clean. The result is a bonded, quality coat.
Plants that coated in a general shop found pinholes and adhesion failures. A dedicated clean booth fixed it. The result is a cladding that is applied in controlled conditions, because dust and oil cause the defects that ruin the film.
The coating booth is where a fluoropolymer film is made or ruined. Dust, oil, moisture and shop fumes all contaminate the surface: a dust particle creates a pinhole, an oil film kills adhesion, and moisture in the film becomes a blister when the part is fused. The coating therefore has to be done in a clean, controlled, dedicated booth, not on the open shop floor. The heater is blasted, degreased, rinsed and brought into the booth, where the air is filtered and the humidity is held within a controlled range. The surface is free of oil and dust. Material-selection service specifies the booth conditions, and at each batch the booth cleanliness, temperature and humidity are logged. Procurement requires the booth record as part of the batch documentation. A clean booth produces a dense, defect-free film, because the pre-treated filler stays clean and the film fuses without trapped contamination. Plants that tried to coat in a general fabrication shop found pinholes and adhesion failures, and once they moved to a dedicated clean booth the defects disappeared. The result is a cladding that is applied in controlled conditions, because dust and oil are the hidden causes of the pinholes and adhesion failure that otherwise plague the film.
At each batch, the booth temperature and humidity are logged, and Procurement requires the record. A clean booth produces a dense, defect-free film, because the pre-treated filler stays clean. Plants that coated on the open shop floor found pinholes and adhesion failure. The result is a cladding applied in controlled conditions, because dust, oil and moisture are the hidden causes of the defects that ruin a fluoropolymer film.
The dedicated booth also keeps the part away from steel fabrication, so no iron dust settles on the wet film. The result is a clean coat, because the controlled booth filters the air and isolates the part from the shop contamination.
The design consequence is that titanium heaters usually do not need cathodic protection at all. A filled-PTFE liner electrically isolates the titanium, breaking the circuit that would drive cathodic current into the metal. The non-conductive glass-fiber filler is essential. The pre-treated composite is dense and bonded. With no applied current, no hydrogen is generated, and the titanium stays ductile. At each outage, inspectors verify the liner at supports. Plants that removed over-protection and installed a non-conductive liner report hydride cracking disappears. The result is a heater that needs no cathodic protection.
