SPPLIF

For years paint coating in the automotive manufacturing sector has constantly evolved to answer the call for ever increasing technical performances and to offer a more attractive and diverse style. Nowadays, things have changed: process and product evolution are also dictated by environmental concerns and have to face an economical pressure unknown to this day, without dropping any of the demands for technical and aesthetical performances. Theses new challenges push the companies to a better command of the paint coating process in order to optimize its performances and reach the expected quality level, while at the same time answering the economical and environmental demands. One of the roads to manufacturing process optimization is numerical simulation. This has already been done in other industrial fields such as injection-moulding with Moldflow or structural mechanics with Abaqus and Ansys. However, this road is still wide open for paint coating manufacturing process. This project is aimed at building a network of research and exchanges between companies and universities in order to better comprehend numerical and theoretical modelling of the paint coating process in the automotive sector of today and for tomorrow. The aim of the project is therefore to better understand the mechanisms upon which paint spraying hinges, and to relate these mechanisms to the quality of the coated part, that is to say its colour, gloss, light reflection homogeneity. The two consecutive steps of flight and film forming of liquid paint, modelled as a cloud of droplets, will be at first treated separately. Numerical models will be checked against experimental measurements carried out at a paint coating pilot plant. The set up of measurement apparatus at this plant, the analysis of the droplet behaviour during flight and during film forming on a surface as well as the rotary bell system as a whole, these are technological and scientific barriers we wish to overcome, in order to define the optimal paint coating process parameters. The value of this study the possibility of limiting the number of trials and error steps needed to reach the finishing quality requested, as well as the quantity of paint used up in production. This in itself will represent a very important economical and environmental gain, together with maintaining the requested finishing quality. To achieve this goal, a number of groups and companies will team up and contribute to the advances over several points: INSA-Lyon : Simulation of paint droplets flight from the bell to the part. ICS and Laboratoire de Rhéologie : Film Forming SAMES : Electrostatic rotary bell and paint coating line manufacturer PLASTIC OMNIUM: Automotive supplier and user of paint coating lines.