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Arcelor Group
S T E E L
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USER MANUAL
Introduction
Advantages
15
21
27
Design
7.1 Shape design
7.2 Joint design
7.3 Design of edges and corners
29
Post-treatment
35
Introduction
Organic coated steel products are used in all sectors of industry.
In building and construction, profiles are used for wall cladding and roofing,
and also for applications such as suspended ceilings, lighting etc.
In general industry, these products have a variety of applications, including
metal furniture, HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning) and many
others. And of course in the domestic appliance market, the advantages of
organic coated steel products are well known. They are successfully used for
white goods (refrigerators, washing machines etc) and small kitchen
appliances (microwave ovens etc). Brown goods (computer casings, VCR &
DVD casings etc) are another successful application.
The purpose of this document is to give you all the information you need
to take maximum advantage of everything organic coated steel has to offer.
But it is no more than a technical support tool and not intended as a
substitute for direct contact with our technical and commercial teams.
Arcelor Group
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Introduction
Advantages
economic
Coil coating lines provide high productivity and yield, reducing the cost of
applying an organic coating. Line speeds are frequently around 100 m/min.
For the user, switching from post-painting to organic coated material means
that he no longer needs to invest in his own paint shop, degreasing installations
and other surface treatment equipment, or the ensuing waste treatment.
The use of coil coated steel simplifies manufacturing operations and provides a
drastic reduction in:
manufacturing costs
energy costs
manufacturing lead time
the financial cost of managing stocks (raw materials, chemicals and
intermediate storage)
Furthermore, the use of organic coated steel significantly reduces company
taxes and insurance premiums. All taxes related to waste treatment are eliminated. In some cases, the move towards clean manufacturing can benefit from
subsidies from the state and/or the European Union.
4
ecological
Organic coated steel is certainly one of the products best able to respond to
present and future environmental regulations. Arcelor has opted for a proactive
approach to the evolution of these regulations by building respect for the environment into the life cycle of its organic coated steel products. This strategy is
pursued at all stages of the products life cycle:
design: when designing new products or production processes, research
teams take their possible environmental impact into account from the
earliest stages of the project.
production: organic coated steel is produced on industrial lines designed
to meet the most stringent environmental regulations concerning surface
treatments, solvent emissions and the absence of harmful substances in the
composition of the paint.
transformation: using organic coated steel improves working conditions
in the workshop by eliminating the use of solvents and the handling and
storage of chemical products.
usage: the use of organic coated steel entails no danger to the consumer
or the environment in the various sectors in which it is used, namely the
construction business, domestic appliances and industry.
recycling: at the end of its life cycle, organic coated steel is recycled just
like any other steel product.
technological
The main advantage of organic coated steel is its consistent quality. Paint film
thickness, colour matching and surface aspect are reproducible within narrow
tolerances from batch to batch. The flexibility of the coil coating process allows
us to produce a range of different surface finishes such as smooth, orange peel,
grained, textured or embossed, which can be obtained in a wide choice of
colours (solid, metallic, pearlescent etc) and the required degree of gloss:
anything from matt to high gloss.
2.2
2.3
Arcelor Group
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2.1
Product
Appearance
Application
Estetic Cold
Smooth, grained,
orange peel
Cold appliances
Estetic Hot
Cooking
Estetic Wet
Washing
Estetic Bright
Domestic appliances
Product
Appearance
Applications
Polyester
Smooth,
orange peel
Estetic Flex
Smooth, grained
Estetic Tex
Textured
Skinplate
Smooth, grained
Estetic Clean
Smooth
Cold rooms
Orange peel
Estetic Lighting
Smooth, grained
Lighting
Estetic Ceiling
Matt
Textured
Smooth
White boards
2.2
A continuous coil coating line consists of three main sections: the entry section, the central or process section, and
the exit section.
In order to maintain a constant speed in the process section,
which is essential to maintaining the quality of the product,
two accumulators (looping towers) are used as buffers when
the entry or exit section of the line is stopped for joining or
cutting the strip.
Product
Granite HD
25
Granite HDS
25 - 35
Smooth, pearly
Granite HDX
50 - 60
Lightly grained
Granite Farm
Front: 25
Back: 35
Smooth
Polyester
25
Smooth
PVDF
25 - 35
Smooth
Plastisol
100 - 200
Smooth, embossed
Skinplate
180 - 900
Pretreatment
The surface of the strip is prepared for coating. This pretreatment is performed in various steps. First, it is degreased and
then a surface treatment coating is applied to reinforce the
adherence of the paint.
Coating process
The first coating head applies liquid paint to both sides of
the strip, usually primer on the topside and backcoat on the
underside. The strip is then passed through an oven, where
the solvents are extracted and the coating cured.
After leaving the oven, the strip is cooled and a topcoat is
applied to the upper surface in the second coating head,
followed by another curing and cooling cycle.
5
13
12
11
10
9
3 2
4
17
16
14
15
Legend:
1. Pay-off reel
2. Stitching machine
3. Degreasing
4. Entry looper
5. Pretreatment
6. Coater: primer coater, top & back
7. Oven*
8. Cooling
9. Coater: top
10. Coater: bottom
11. Oven*
12. Embossing roll
13. Cooling
14. Levelling (machine)
15. Exit looper
16. Inspection point
17. Coiler
Topcoat
Primer
Surface treatment
Zinc coating
Steel
The curing cycles are extremely important, since they determine the quality of the paint system in terms of hardness,
adhesion, and mechanical and chemical resistance.
2.2.3 Exit section
Thickness (mm)
Width (mm)
products
0.17 to 3
600 to 1850
Skinplate
0.25 to 1 (1.5)
600 to 1530
0.4 to 1 (1.5)
700 to 1450
Organic coated
Colaminated
products
2.3
Zinc coating
Surface treatment
Backcoat
General recommendations
for use
3.1
Important notice
10
3.2
General recommendations
10
3.3
11
3.4
12
Arcelor Group
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3.1
Important notice
3.2
10
Successful processing depends on the flexibility and hardness of the organic coating. The following graph shows how
the working temperature affects these properties.
physical properties
flexibility
General recommendations
The first point to be borne in mind is that the surface condition of the final component is that of the coil coated sheet
before processing. The second point is that the weakest link
in the processing chain will determine the quality of the
final product. Consequently, great care must be taken with
all processing steps in order to ensure a high-quality final
product.
For organic coated steel, a good production process is one
that keeps all the initial properties of the material intact.
Essentially, this means the avoidance of excessive deformation or damage to the surface, so as to preserve the corrosion resistance properties and attractive appearance of
the product.
hardness
Tg
temperature
Product inspection and monitoring should always be performed during processing, in order to detect defects such as
scratches or indentations at the earliest possible stage. The
ideal solution is to provide inspection zones with adequate
lighting. The topside of the organic coated steel (which will
be visible in the end product) must be facing upwards.
Please note that the presence of a protective film may considerably hamper inspection (see p. 28).
3.3
3.3.1 Handling
3.3.2 Packaging
Equipment for handling coils should have a protective coating, e.g. sheathed non-metallic slings, and grips or
C-hooks with a rubber or synthetic coating. These tools must
be used with great care to avoid any hard impact which
could mark the product.
Operators should wear gloves when handling sheets manually to protect their hands from cuts. This also keeps the surface of the sheet clean.
For automatic handling, numerous solutions are available,
including robotic suction pad systems etc. An excellent system for both sheets and blanks is four-point seizure by suction pads. This system can be further improved by installing
permanent magnets at the stack edges, to maintain the
stack while the sheets are removed one by one.
11
3.4
3.4.1 Decoiling
top side
backside
12
burr orientation
top shaft
blade
sheet
vertical clearance
(crossover)
sheet
blade
horizontal clearance
(between steel)
bottom shaft
Horizontal and vertical blade clearances in slitting
bottom shaft
top shaft
bottom shaft
6-8%
25-40%
shear zone
fracture zone
50-60%
horizontal
clearance
= 5
Morphology of the cut edges
Cutting to length with a shear gives burrs oriented in opposite directions on the front and rear edges of the sheet.
blank
holder
moving blade
uncoiled strip
fixed blade
blank
13
14
Introduction
16
4.2
Drawing
17
4.3
Roll forming
17
4.4
Bending
18
4.5
Panel forming
19
4.6
Edge forming
20
4.7
Spinning
20
Arcelor Group
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4.1
Introduction
16
4.2
Drawing
punch
blank holder
die
lockbead
blocking bead
4.3
Roll forming
17
4.4
Bending
18
As in the case of drawing tools, particular attention must be
paid to the roughness and hardness of the rolls. The best roll
materials are low or high alloy steels (35NCD4, 100C6,
Z200C13 etc.), quenched, ground and if possible, polished.
The application of a layer of chrome is the ideal solution.
Whereas lubrication is essential in roll forming of galvanised
steel to prevent the coating sticking to the tools, it is often
not necessary for organic coated steel, in view of the excellent properties of modern organic coatings. Furthermore,
with complex profile geometries, it may be difficult to eliminate the lubricant.
4.5
Panel forming
R1
R2
4.6
Edge forming
4.7
Spinning
blank
tailstock
blank holder
punch
mandrel
spinning roller
20
Principle of lathe spinning
die
Edge forming by conventional flanging
In the conventional wiping process, elastic springback is
controlled by ironing, i.e. reducing the thickness of the
sheet. For organic coated steel, the process must be modified to avoid severe damage to the coating.
The best solution is to use an articulated punch and cam system, in which the punch can rotate in addition to vertical
displacement. This system also limits sliding during tool
withdrawal. The process configuration is somewhat similar
to that of flap bending.
articulated punch
blank holder
cam
die
Adhesive bonding
22
5.2
Clinching
23
5.3
Riveting
23
5.4
Lockseaming
24
5.5
25
5.6
Welding
25
Arcelor Group
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5.1
Adhesive bonding
Adhesive bonded joints are generally lap joints.
22
lap joint
butt joint
compression
cleavage
shear
tension
peeling
Different types of joint loading
5.2
Clinching
5.3
Riveting
Riveting of coil coated products requires no special precautions in addition to those required for cold rolled, galvanised
or electrogalvanised steel.
There are three possible riveting techniques:
Conventional riveting
rivet
23
Clinching
Conventional riveting
The clinching capacity of a sheet is directly linked to the
grade of steel employed. In order to guarantee the attractive
appearance of the clinched points, local lubrication with
volatile oil may prove necessary. This will limit friction
between the punch, the surface of the organic coated steel,
and the die. Here again, heating is an excellent means of
ensuring the flexibility of the organic coating and its formability during clinching. A protective film may also be beneficial in this respect, but it must never be located between the
two sheets to be clinched.
With regard to the appearance of the component, each
clinching point produces a hump and a hollow. Since the
static strength of a clinch is less than that of a spot weld, a
greater density of points is required. The clinching tool must
be perfectly perpendicular to the sheets and the punch
must be precisely positioned with respect to the die. The
sheet thicknesses must be less than 3 mm, with a ratio
between the two thicknesses not greater than 2.
Blind riveting
Blind riveting
5.4
Self-piercing rivets
Self-piercing rivets
The advantages of self-piercing rivets are similar to those for
clinching, and the process also gives higher resistance to
static loading. However, this technique is less suitable for
thin sheets.
24
Lockseaming
5.5
electrode
front side
initial current
main current
electrode
electrode
25
front side
initial current
main current
Welding
In general, conventional welding techniques have a negative effect on the appearance of organic coated sheet and
lead to a loss in corrosion resistance. Protection of the weld
zones is therefore necessary if the part is exposed to an
aggressive environment.
lap weld
gutter position
inside corner
weld
butt weld
edge weld
26
Various processes can be used to weld studs to organic coated steel, but the only method applicable to all types of
organic coated steel, whether electrically conducting or not,
is electrical discharge welding. When the different welding
parameters are correctly adjusted, it is easy to conserve a
perfect appearance of the coating on the side opposite to
the weld spot, with excellent corrosion resistance of the
whole zone. This makes the process extremely attractive.
The presence of slight splashes around the edge of the weld
has no effect on the coating.
weld seam
weld point
pressure roll
V angle (5 to 7)
induction
coil
Welding a pin by electrical discharge welding
tube travel
impeder
Resistance butt welding
The pulsed arc process requires electrically conducting coatings and marks the rear side of the coated sheet. The stud
inert gas (SIG) process is applicable to all types of coating,
but causes significant coating damage.
Protection and
manufacturing aids
6.1
28
6.2
28
Arcelor Group
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6.1
6.2
Design
7.1
Shape design
30
7.2
Joint design
31
7.3
32
Arcelor Group
S T E E L
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Design
7.1
Shape design
30
Organic coatings have their specific characteristics (adherence, flexibility, hardness, corrosion resistance etc). Some of
them can withstand very high strains such as occur in 180
folds, for example, while others are less tolerant. It is not
always possible to combine the best performances for all
properties. However, it is always possible to find an optimum compromise that meets the specifications as closely as
possible.
It is therefore important not to introduce unnecessarily high
strains at the design stage, in order to conserve the widest
choice of coatings to obtain an optimum balance between
the different functional property performances.
Ri/t ratio
Bending strain as a function of the Ri/t ratio
(1)
t
where t is the sheet thickness and Ri is the internal bending
e
radius.
e
Ri
Bending test
(%) (1)
ECCA index*
NCCA index*
0T
0T
>100
0.5 T
1T
50
1T
2T
33
1.5 T
3T
25
2T
4T
20
7.2
Joint design
5T
17
31
Design
7.3
32
In a few rare highly aggressive situations, it can be an advantage to fold the edges, in order to prevent them from coming into direct contact with a damp environment. Rounded
or drop-shaped folds are to be preferred to fully flattened
ones to minimise strains. Another possibility for protecting
highly exposed zones is the use of a sealing compound or
similar product.
33
34
Post-treatment
Excellent appearance, paint adherence and corrosion resistance can
be obtained with these products.
For example, a primer-coated sheet subsequently given an automobile
topcoat system can attain a DOI level of 85-90, with a film tension of over
17.5, excellent wet adherence (0 ranking) and level 2 to 3 gravel
impingement resistance. In the 3C test, no blisters or degradation are
observed at the scratch at the end of the exposure time. These values enable
primer-coated sheet steels to be used for conventional appearance sensitive
automobile components.
A significant advantage of these primer-coated steels is the guarantee of a
uniform primer layer on all surfaces of a component. This is a big advantage
in achieving corrosion resistance inside hollow components, given the
difficulties in controlling the electrical field with the cataphoretic coating in
such cases.
Arcelor Group
S T E E L
F O R
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PR-UM-OCO-EN 08/2004