Curing Oven
Curing is a term that is commonly used in chemistry and process engineering; it is used on many materials, for many different needs.
What is Curing?
Curing is a process that is used for toughening and hardening materials by the cross linking of polymer chains. This is brought about through intense heat and chemical additives; the heat from a curing oven causes a chemical reaction in the substance once it has hit a certain temperature. There a number of composite materials in which this process is used.
Composite materials
Composites are comprised from two or more constituent materials of which are of a differing chemical of physical make up. They are found in products which need to be strong enough to take heavy and harsh loading conditions and yet lightweight. This kind of material would be found in many industries including:
- Motor racing cars
- Aerospace and Defence
- Ships and Boats
- Home appliances
Commonly used composite materials are:
- Fibre reinforced polymers
- Glass reinforced plastics
- Carbon fibre reinforced plastic
- Ceramic matrix composites
- Metal matrix composites
- Engineered woods such as: plywood, wood plastic composites and oriented strand board
- Chemical Polymerizations include: Vinyl ester, epoxy, polyamide, polyester, phenolic, polypropylene and polyetheretherketone.
The quality of the cured material makes it unparalleled in creating great products.
Coating
Items are once formed are to be coated this adds to appearance as-well as providing protection from erosion and scratch and wear resistance. They are coated using either:
- Liquid Paint made up of resins, binder or pigment plus a solvent, water or other activators that can change the property of the paint.
- One or two pack paint. One pack is a paint which does not require any chemical hardener to be added; two packs do require chemical assistance through a hardener which results in a higher quality finish.
- Polymerization is the name for the curing of the binder through the use of heat.
Paint would be required to dry in a curing oven for 20 to 30 at minutes at a temperature of 60° C to 80° C.
Curing ovens
Curing ovens are the most essential part of the curing process as they can provide constant heat to material to cause the chemical reaction needed. They are used in the heat formation process of composite materials to harden, shape bond and then cure the materials creating a product to be coated. The ability to be able to control temperature of the oven during the process in a beneficial part of ovens, there are a wide range of industrial ovens that can be used for curing, they are generally broken down into two kinds.
Types of curing oven
Batch ovens are available in a range of sizes depending on the size on the project; they can cure materials in batches and are beneficial for objects that off irregular size and shape. Production can controlled around when you need it.
Conveyor Ovens offer the ability to cure materials at a continuous rate, making them better for bigger orders, but are restricted as to what size items can be processed.