Plastic Tank - Could you Powdercoat it?

[He Man]

Just a thought.... good idea? bad idea? Not sure what temp our tanks start to melt...

[Capo]

1. Plastic is nonconducting, the electrostaticpowder application  process would not work.
and even if you were somehow able to get the powder to stick to the tank,
2. The plastic tank would not survive the heat of the curing process, all you'd have at the end would be a blob of plastic.

So the answer is NO.

[He Man]

1. Plastic is nonconducting, the electrostaticpowder application  process would not work.
and even if you were somehow able to get the powder to stick to the tank,
2. The plastic tank would not survive the heat of the curing process, all you'd have at the end would be a blob of plastic.

So the answer is NO.

I wasnt so much worried about number 1. They have ways to coat plastic. I just wasnt sure if the tank could take the 15minutes of 400 degrees.  guess not.

[MotoCreations]

For rotomolded products, you can figure heat distortion levels (in degrees Fahrenheit):

- nylon w/glass reinforcement (495)
- acetals w/glass reinforcement (325)
- polycarbonates (295)
- general nylon (220)
- general propylene (140)

Plastics are a great thermal insulators (those who have ridden the two different composition tanks in Arizona summer will tell you the difference quickly!)

Plastics are horrible in terms of conductivity (300 - 2500 times worse than most metal) which is required for powdercoat to be applied

Powdercoating can sometimes be heated "low temp" in mid-200's.  Most go to 400 degrees (or possibly higher depending upon location within powercoaters oven)

Your only options are paint or vinyl graphic wraps.  (no self respecting powdercoater would even try to do)

Thus the answer is "NO".

[ducpainter]

There are UV cure powder processes that use much lower heat ~200F and exposure to UV light...

It's used to coat mdf in large scale applications...

but why bother?

[Capo]

I wasnt so much worried about number 1. They have ways to coat plastic. I just wasnt sure if the tank could take the 15minutes of 400 degrees.  guess not.

With out number 1, it's a non starter

[He Man]

your plastic hair comb is not a good conductor but it can hold a charge. rubber is also a terrible conductor, but it can also hold a charge(think of a balloon). shop i called up to quote my rims said, they could do most plastics. But i just figured i answer number 2 first before i answer number 1. guess im wired backwards? 

Question was mostly asked out of convenience, so i can give my wheels and tank to 1 shop to have them do it all instead of splitting it up.

Ive also seen an application where the powder is sprayed in one nozzle and a torch is ignited to heat up the powder and then finnally melt it once it contacts the surface your spraying on. But i looked a bit deeper into it and no matter how i look at it your spitting way to much heat onto that surface.

[Pikesonce]

Yes you can powder coat plastic. It will not be cheap and hard to find a place that will be able to do it. There is a pre-treat that you can put on the plastic so it will conduct the paint, and like someone said above, UV cure is at a low enough temp to work.

I am a ME and did design and applications work for for one of the largest powder coating equiptment manufacturers.

[krista]

For rotomolded products, you can figure heat distortion levels (in degrees Fahrenheit):
- general nylon (220)

From what I've been told, this is what the OEM Ducati tanks are made of.

As far as the polyethylene "cross link" that rotomolded tanks (intended to hold fuel) use, I am told by my sales reps you don't want them to get to or over 185 deg F. Since a fuel tank is liquid cooled by the gasoline within, all the tests I made on the MH showed that the tank never exceeded 110 deg F, while frame rails next to it routinely were 130 deg F. Got me where my sales rep's numbers fall in line with Mark's numbers.

Chris