Underbody Coating

UNDER BODY COATING AND ITS PURPOSES

As we known while sitting on the driving seat enjoying the smooth ride, the underbody of our car is always exposed to muddy water, stones, rugged roads, and potholes. This makes it prone to wear and tear, which is often not in plain sight but could lead to serious issues if not taken care of.  

So we all are aware of the fact that the underbody of the previous models was made from durable metals such as steel, which is easily damaged and oxidized, forming rust. The speedy beast today is made up of polycarbonate material, aluminum, and other tough materials that are more stable against corrosion.

Based on materials there are several types of vehicle undercoating such as-

• Rubberized
• Polyurethane
• Asphalt
• Wax/paraffin-based undercoating

MODERN AUTOMOTIVE COATING PROCESSES
1) PRETREATMENT :

Preatrament removes & clean excess metal & forms an appropriate surface structure enabling bonding of a corrosion protection layer. It consists of cleaning the body surface to remove remaining oils from the staming process & welding residues through three primary liquid dip processes of degreasing, conditioning, & phosphating.
Pretreament helps the primer to bond onto the metal. A phosphate treatment applies an inert layer of metal phosphate, providing resistance to corrosion spread. The degreasing solution is composed of alkaline salts & surfactants & can include caustic soda, sodium carbonate.
The surfactants are types of detergents for emulsifying oils & lubricants on the BIW. In surface conditioner which creates nucleation sites for phosphate crystal growth. It increases the number of crystallization nuclei on the metal surface that enchance bonding mechanism for the subsequent phosphate sequence. Finally, the liquid dip phosphate ions, nitrate ions, zinc & hydrogen ions. The free acid etches the steel surface, causing hydrogen to be released while metal phosphate ions are precipitated onto the surface in a crystalline form.

2) ELETRODEPOSITION

E-coating involves dipping automobile bodies into the coating solution & passing an electric current through the body & the liquid ED paint solution. Because of the charged nature of this coating process, the ED paint penetrates into places a spray would not reach. During operation, a mixture of resin, binder, & a paste containing the pigments is fed into the ED tank. The automobile body is lowered into the tank, & an electric current applied; the solution in the tank consists of 80-90% deionised water & 10-20% paint solids.The resin is the backbone of the final paint film & provides corrosion protection, durability, & toughness. Pigments are used to provide color & gloss.
After E-coat, the automobile body enters a bake oven, in which heating & keeping at a temperature of 160_C for 10 min causes film curing to promote maximum performance properties. The oven temperature & heating time primarily enchance chip resistance & film adhesion to the body; corrosion protected is affected less by these conditions. Because surface roughness influences the smoothness & brilliance of the topcoat, some sanding of the surface is usually performed to remove or eliminate defects before the body enters the next application step.
A common challenge in the cureent E-coating process is that of water spots that contaminate coated surfaces. If water spots are present, they have removed ny sanding. Hence, it is necessary to use well-deionoised water & routinely monitor its conductivity. Alternstely, operators also add surfactants or ultrafiltrates to the water rinse zone to eliminate or manage water spots.

3) RUST-PROOF MATERIALS: SEALER/PVC

During this third step, it is also typical to apply a soft tip primer coat that improves the chipping resistance . This layer is applied to the front edge of the hood , which is an area prone to chipping shock, using a high elastic resin that resides between the ED & primer coats. Also, during the third step, the radiator supports, wheel housing, & under rar areas of the body are coated with a relatively dull black
pigment called a blackout coating.

4) PRIMER

The fourth coating step is the primer. It can be water-borne, solvent-borne, or a powder. The primer fills & smoothes minor imperfections & scratches that may be created during prior steps & by the intermediate sanding or grinding used to remove small imperfections. It also provides additional protection against corrosion & maximizes adhesion between it & the E-coat & basecoat; thereby, the primer incrases paint durability. Primer coating operations in an automobile assembly plant are usually implemented in three stages: Interior coating, Exterior coating, & then cutting in an oven.
Manual spray painting is used for the interior coating of the doors, engine compartment, & luggage or trunk space. Some of the areas are not sprayed with basecoat. It is important that are primer color matches the basecoat to be able to impart uniform coating appearances between interior & exterior coats.

5) TOPCOAT

The final step in the body coating process is to apply the topcoat, which consists of two layers the basecoat & clearcoat.
Basecoat: It contains the primary coloring pigments. As part of the topcoat, the basecoat is third layr added to the car after the primer & before the clearcoat. It imparts the automobiles color; roughly 40,000 base coat color are known today , & approximately 1000 new colors are added to this list each year. Three different types of basecoats are used for automobiles, including solvent-borne medium solids (MS), solvent-borne high solids (HS), & water-borne.
Clearcoat: The final coating on an automobile surface is the clearcoa; it provides durability, environmental etch, & scratch resistance to the overall coating. It protects against damage such as fading that is caused by UV rays from the sun & imparts a gloss & depth that otherwise are not as vivid. The clearcoat also makes repairs & maintenance easier. Environmental etch is an appearance issue associated
with the formation of permanent water spots or nonremovable marks from bird droppings, tree resin, or other chemicals after contact with an automobiles surface. The physical damage resulting from etchi=ng is associated with a localized loss of material & deformation or pitting of the clarcoat surface.

Pros and Cons for Underbody Coating:

Pros :

1. It provides a layer of protection against corrosion.

2. It will extend the life of your vehicle.

3. It may help to reduce interior noise.

4. It can be applied to damaged areas.

Cons :

1. It is less helpful if corrosion is already present.

2. It adds weight to the vehicle.