Digital Viscometer Key to Corrosion Resistance and Building Safety
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Boston-Corrosion on screw-based fasteners and fastener systems can significantly compromise building safety. Coatings play a critical role in fastener corrosion resistance, but they must be applied correctly to achieve performance and quality standards. Tight viscosity control of the film throughout the coating process is critically important to help manufacturers achieve this goal.
One leading North American manufacturer has turned to Cambridge Viscosity viscometers to control coating viscosity. The manufacturer utilizes a dip coating process to apply a uniform film coat, which is then dried on the fasteners. Unfortunately, evaporation compromises the integrity of the film coat. If too much make-up fluid is added, the coating solids are thinned beyond international standards, but adding too little increases coating material costs with no improvement in performance and an actually drive the fasteners out of dimensional specifications. The company chose a VISCOpro 1600 digital viscometer from Cambridge Viscosity to enable them to achieve their quality targets while minimizing production and scrap costs.
Prior to implementing the Cambridge VISCOpro system, the fastener manufacturer periodically sampled in-process coating viscosity and adjusted it by adding more base coating material or make-up stock as required. The company set high coating viscosity targets to assure product quality despite the time delays that can occur using this approach. They realized that real-time viscosity control could greatly reduce material and labor costs. In addition to being extremely accurate and reliable, the Cambridge viscometer was chosen because it incorporates temperature-compensated viscosity, which allows it to mathematically adjust viscosity readings for changes in plant temperature so the resulting film thickness is precisely maintained.
"The viscosity control system that this leading fastener company now has in place allows their operators to accurately make additions to the tank and precisely set and maintain process parameter in real-time," explains Cambridge Sales Manager Jon Cole "Viscosity control is particularly important in dip coating operations where the film material is expensive. If the mixture is allowed to run too thick, the product can exceed dimensional and cost specs, but if it is too thin, poor coating quality results. With the VISCOpro 1600 they are able to constantly monitor and adjust their coating mixture to ensure it is at the ideal specification."
About Cambridge Viscosity
Cambridge Viscosity, the leader in small sample viscosity systems, provides automated viscometers used in coating, chemical, oil and life science applications worldwide to optimize product and process performance. Cambridge's global reach provides application engineering support and service wherever and whenever needed.
