Composites
Powder In-Mould Coating (PIMC) – SMC/BMC powder coating in pressing tools
By combining pressing and coating into a single work step, costly subsequent coating is no longer necessary. Your added value is increased, the total costs for your customers are decreased and the quality of the SMC/BMC components is improved. The expense for technical retrofitting is low.
PIMC process
The powder coating of SMC/BMC is easy to integrate in the pressing process. The powder coating is sprayed into the pressing mould manually or automatically. The highly reactive coating cures in a few seconds so the SMC/BMC can be laid in immediately and pressed. The cycle time is only extended by the duration of the powder coating application (depending on the component, approx. 30 sec.).
After pressing, the finished, coated component can be demoulded as usual. The typical fibre marking is completely levelled out by the PIMC process, giving the parts a highly resistant and very homogeneous surface.
PIMC powder coating
The powder coatings suitable for PIMC are based on unsaturated polyester resins.
The melting behaviour is set in such a way that the coating initially has extremely low viscosity when heat is applied and then gains hardness and resistance very quickly. This ensures optimal wetting and excellent properties of the finished product.
