Custom Painting by Means of Powder Coating and Localized Heating

A custom painting process was defined for the customization of coated or uncoated sheet metals. A diode laser was used to polymerize the deposited scripts. In the case of scripts with a high line thickness, an IR lamp was preferred to the laser source to improve the coating aesthetics. In order to show the process feasibility, an L-shaped script was considered and several process parameters were changed. Painting tests were carried out on sheet metals subjected to cataphoresis treatment and on coated sheet metals, visual inspection and scratch tests were also performed to characterize the processed specimens.