Walther Trowal: PFAS-free lacquer coating of elastomers
Walther Trowal and Italian company C.S.I. Centro Servizi Industriali Srl are presenting an environmentally friendly alternative for coating small mass-produced elastomer parts at DKT 2024. The new, first PFAS-free coating system from C.S.I. is specially designed for rotamats.
PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds), which are currently contained in many paint systems, are not completely degradable in the environment, or only over very long periods of time. In addition, some of them are suspected of being carcinogenic. It is foreseeable that the EU will restrict the use of PFAS in the near future. This is why both companies are presenting the new PFAS-free bonded coatings CSIP13 and CSIPN18 for sealing elements made of elastomers and plastics - for example O-rings or flat gaskets - at the DKT. They do not contain PFAS, but still have the same low coefficient of friction as PTFE-based coating systems and are long-lasting. C.S.I. has developed them especially for coating in the Rotamats that Walther Trowal is exhibiting at the DKT. Due to its large drum, the Rotamat R 100 in particular is increasingly being used by customers to coat large-volume parts such as bellows.
Danilo Olivino, Technical Director at C.S.I., explains the challenges the team had to overcome: "We had to replace all fluorine-containing components with an alternative lubricant. This required extensive testing ... both on the composition of the lacquer and the actual coating. With the ability to precisely and repeatably control the process within very wide limits, the Rotamat has the optimum technology to precisely control the processes in the spray chamber. High process reliability and reproducibility are particularly important when coating parts for the automotive industry, and the Rotamat offers this." He continues: "The Rotamat's extensive sensor system provides precise measurement data for controlling the volume flow with an accuracy of a tenth of a gram per minute. This ensures that the correct amount of coating material is applied to the parts per unit of time at all times and that the desired coating thickness is maintained precisely and reproducibly." Walther Trowal's first customers have successfully coated small mass-produced parts with PFAS-free bonded coatings using Rotamats. These include the Dutch company Brüning Flexible Coating B.V., which uses several Rotamats to coat O-rings and X-rings, among other things. Walther Trowal will be exhibiting at DKT 2024 (July 1 to 4, 2024 in Nuremberg) in Hall 9, Stand 314.