Tricks to minimize outgas?

[tomg552001]

Anyone have any tricks to minimize out gas on cast aluminum parts? I'm thinking the best is to cure longer at a lower temp to keep it liquid as long as possible and pray that a lot of the bubbles even themselves out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Hemi-T]

On aluminum parts where outgassing is possible:

1) sandblast
2) bake in the oven at cure temp to outgas
3) remove, cool, and coat with powder
4) cure powder

I've had good luck with doing it this way.

Hemi-T

[tomg552001]

Wow i never tried that. I figured that cooling it back down would cancel out the whole curing without powder process. I will give this a try. I have tried a lot of things but it seemds that there is always some in cast aluminum. My best results, even though its more work is to pre cure, coat with powder, cure, cool, west sand outgas, than re-coat. Thanks for the tip, i'll try it.

[rivermasternc]

Tom:

Hemi-T is right on. This is also the strategy you will want to try for zinc die castings, although zinc is normally more troublesome than aluminum. If all else fails, discuss a special formulation of the powder with your powder supplier. Two things they will consider will be a self healing (longer flow state) or lower cure temperature material.

-Scott

[tomg552001]

Ok so i tried this method today and still can not figure out where i am going wrong. Could you guys give me some temp and time recommendations? I attempted this on a cast aluminum nissan valve cover, approxiamtely 22 inches long, 8 inches wide and 3 inches tall with a weight of about 10-15lbs. I outgassed it for 20 minutes at 450 degrees, cooled it down, than powder coated it, than cured for 20 minutes at 375 and still got outgas pretty heavily. I am using TGIC powders and blasting with alum oxide/glass bead mix, followed by a pretreatment solution, than outgas, powder coat and finally cure. Any suggestions on how long i should out gas at waht temp and what temp should i cure at for how long? I havnt purchased a infrared temp gun but will most likely shortly. Thanks in advance for the expertise.

[Hemi-T]

What is "pretreatment solution"? I used brake cleaner (not the orange based stuff) to degrease my aluminum valley cover inside and out, then sandblasted with silica, then baked at 450 degrees for 15 minutes to outgas, then cooled and powder coated as normal. No problems. It has been on a running engine using synthetic oil for 3 years before being powder coated.

Hemi-T

[tomg552001]

Hmm, its something i purchased from columbia coatings. It's a paint/powder coat prep that they sell.

[Hemi-T]

Try coating a similar part without using the pretreatment and see if you get the same results. I would be suspicious of something that says it works for paint and powder coating. They're different beasts. Any contamination could potentially cause outgassing. The brake cleaner I use is extremely volatile, and vaporizes completely in seconds even without heat, but I still preheat to outgas aluminum parts anyway. Good luck!

Hemi-T

[rivermasternc]

Why would any "pretreatment solution" be needed for an aluminum substrate if you are grit blasting? I can see a phosphate solution on a steel part to reduce rust creep.

[tomg552001]

I was under the understanding that it helped dissolve any surface oils such as from my hands after touching it etc. How are my times and temps? Any suggestions on that?