This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at Los tratamientos de superficie dentro de la industria

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The treatment of surface within the industry

Drafting MU15/03/2004

A very important part of various treatments that are essential to perform throughout the industry in general and in particular in companies of manufacture, processing or Assembly of all types of machines and products are included under the term "surface treatments"that they employ materials such as ferrous or non-ferrous metals, plastics, wood, etc. This is so because the new technologies required in the construction, handling, Assembly, or decorative finish of any piece, taking to do various surface treatments.

Cabin of painting with dry filters type panel

The surface treatments include various processes, as melting all kinds of materials, Deflash them, refine them, treat them thermal or chemically, equip them with washing, phosphating, pasivados, etc. to be painted, lacquered, laminated, vulcanizados, or, to be treated termoquímicamente with deposition of carbon, nitrides, vapours to blue, etc. Also using furnace atmosphere or vacuum, for overlapping layers anti-wear or special mechanical characteristics.

There are also electrochemical surface treatments, such as zinc coated the bearing, chrome, silver, niquelados, anodizados etc. or thermal overlap through the addition of thin surface layer of ceramics, tungsten, graphite, silver and even diamond, etc. in a State of plasma.

Various types of machines

This required a number of machines or specific facilities such as:

Machines for treating surfaces: washing, degreasing, dung, pasivar, polishing, dry...
Ovens and stoves for nitriding, cement, tempering, dry, melt, galvanizing industrial...
Installations of painting, washing, phosphating, painted, drying, sheath, teflonado...
Facilities of electroplating, silver, chromium-plated, zinc coated, blued...

Many of the properties of various materials used in the industry in general, are critical in the face of job well is for the special characteristics that they must be, whether mechanical, corrosion resistantfriction, adhesion, resistance to chemical attack or simply for decorative exterior appearance.

To achieve these particular characteristics should strive to achieve the correct choice of materials to be used, as well as of surface treatments which are going to do, because these are that ultimately will alter surfaces giving the properties required for each case in particular.

We can classify the surface treatments depending on the nature of the same:

Surface treatments that do not alter the composition of the base material:

Various heat treatments: temples, revenidos...
Mechanical treatments of blasting and polishing...
Chemical treatment of degreasing, cleaning...

Surface treatments which alter the composition of the base material:

Treatments of nitriding, carbonitriding, sulfinización termo-químicos...

Surface treatments with formation of a new layer on the base material:

Chemical coatings (chromium, nickel, silver...)
Coatings for deposition (physics, chemistry,) steam or plasma.
Coatings by shifted thermal other materials melted on the base material, such as: ceramics, carbon, silver, titanium and other alloys.
Coatings of paints, lacquers, laminated, Teflon, etc.

Given the importance they have acquired all the surface treatments in general, there are specialized companies to cover these needs. Bautermic is one of these companies that designs and manufactures a wide range of these teams.

Industrial stoves and furnaces.

Bautermic industrial stoves and ovens are designed for all types of warm-ups, dried, polymerised, fusion of metals, heat treatment, deshidrogenado, temple, hot-galvanized, plastic, etc. with electric heating systems or combustion in automatic and manual updates of static or continuous type up to 1250 ° C.

The regulation of these furnaces is always automatic, adjusting of heating power to what is strictly necessary to maintain constant temperature of work scheduled. Isothermal proportional microprocessors are installed for special controls. The loads are deposited inside the muffles directly or on special trays. When work processes required, they have records of air inlet and evacuation of gases, take samples, antiexplosivas securities, etc. Apart from these standard types, are produced under order all kinds of special furnaces continuous, linear, Rotary, Rotary air, with electric heating system or by combustion and in the case that the process you require, these ovens are equipped with forced air recirculation, internal protection or with vacuum atmosphere.

Machines and installations for surface treatment

This group includes functions such as washing, degreasing, phosphating, passivation, pickled, dried and oiled...

Main systems used washing and degreasing are the treatment of the parts by aqueous solutions and treatment through solvents. The first has been settled for many years, thanks to the work of infinite number of chemical companies that produce these detergents on a regular basis. The alternative to chlorinated solvents, which are in the process of extinction, is in the use of new solvent free of CFC's.

Treatment in water-based, allows the application of the degreaser spray, immersion, with or without ultrasound, in continuous machines or post, a clear example are drum tunnels, ideal for the treatment of screws or small piecerío, tunnels of band, for parts of larger in large-scale productions, the cabins with rotating baskets or removable tanks, and a lot of tanks, all of it with the possibility of incorporating large numbers of treatments on the same machine, such as passivation, phosphating, pickling and in most casesdried. The main disadvantage of water-based treatment is precisely the need, in most cases, incorporate drying stations to prevent oxidation of the pieces, although this has not been a deterrent so that these types of treatments are currently the most widely used.

Treatment with solvents, presents as main advantage the rapid evaporation of degreasing product and therefore the rapid drying of the pieces, greatly reducing the size and the cost of the machines. In most cases these products apply phase steam tanks or by immersion and according to the type of pieces and dirt of these, incorporating ultrasounds and systems of agitation.

Vibrated machines

There are other range of machines for surface treatment by mechanical processes, automatic or manual cycle in aqueous solution for operations of degreasing, cleaning, passivation, phosphated, deburring, polishing, dry, lubricated protection, etc.

This type of machine is ideally suited for addressing all types of pieces, of simple and complex shapes in Fe, Al, Cu, ceramic, etc. are: keys, metal buttons, screws, washers, nuts, bolts, rivets, bolts, costume jewellery, cambrillones, nails, docks, nails, chains, fittings of hardware, etc.

There are machines that can by themselves do all the operations of surface treatment in simple or combined processes for small or large volumes of parts and without intermediate movements, as all treatments, including own drying, is carried out by introducing hot air in the same Housewithout having to use additional facilities.

It's compact machines to be able to mount in line with the machines of production, presses, shears, ovens... Decanters which purified waste water to be reused in these same processes for months can also be supplemented by filters.

Facilities and equipment for painting

Surface treatments applied to all kinds of pieces are necessary in any manufacturing process to overcome the controls of quality to which all products are subject. Many of them involve one or more treatments, which can be: cleaning or preparation surface, to finish with some kind of coating as a distinction, decorative appearance, protection or increase the properties of the pieces before oxidation by moisture, saline fog, contact with acid, vapours, wear, etc.

To perform these functions are used a wide range of facilities that may be static or continuous, whose applications most usual are: degreasing, dung, varnish, paint and drying all kinds of pieces (whether plastic, epoxy, with water based or solvent), announce implementation or electrostatic, in liquid, powder or fluid for laminate bed or rilsanizar.

The basic equipment for the treatment and finishing of surfaces applicable to all types of industries, basically are: washing machines, desbarbadoras, grinding, paint booths, drying furnaces, conveyors and ancillary equipment and robots, recuperators, cyclones, etc.

In conclusion, currently surface treatments are a fundamental part of the industry, to overcome the quality controls that undergoes any product in all types of businesses.

For being able to choose the best and most economic solutions when he is required to purchase such facilities, it is necessary to have knowledge on these matters, since they can be valid different solutions, a simpler and less costly than others.