Purpose and Application

Acid rain, bird droppings, fuel, antifreeze and many other environmental factors can damage
automotive finishes. Especially in summertime, some substances can be very aggressive and
cause severe damage. Therefore, automotive paint manufacturers as well as auto makers need
to find out how different environmental phenomena will interact with a coating system.
For the development of stove enamel systems as well as for their quality testing it is of great
importance to assess the temperature range and the max. temperature limit, respectively, where the
components of the lacquer formulations (and thus also potentially the properties and the quality of
the whole thing) begin to change. The well-known main example for this are the
yellowing of binding agents as well as the change in colour of pigments.
Concerning the subject of baked coatings within industrial production conditions, the accurate
control of the corresponding processes is of crucial importance to achieve and continuously
maintain/ guarantee the specified qualitative characteristics of the coating.
Due to different reasons, the actually existing conditions do not always correspond exactly to the
preset process run which in the “worst case“ may cause severely high non-conformity costs.
The Gradient-oven 432 offers the possibility of a needs-based optimizing of the process for the
product in question.
The „actual condition“ in the stove enameling production line, beforehand determined by means
of an oven temperature recorder, can be simulated at the best via a requirement-orientated
setting of an appropriate gradient and thus allows a nearly perfect 1:1 simulation of the respective
stoving condition, however on the desired laboratory scale saving time and expenses.