“Fusion coating”, a new concept from Cefla Group and Henkel

The latest “Cefla Live” presented the results of collaboration between Cefla Group and the German giant Henkel to create “high gloss” panels.

 

If we got it right, the goal is clear: “finish” surfaces that have no excellent quality, paint them with excellent results. In other words, take a panel of poor particleboard, do some magic on its dramatically uneven edges and poorly sanded and calibrated surfaces, until in the end everything looks like the most beautiful surface you have ever seen.

A magic that Cefla has already shown with its “Inert coating” technology, which we reported about several times in Xylon.

Now we have seen another development, namely “fusion coating”, a new process that goes a few steps further into this direction, also through the partnership with a big actor like the German group Henkel, and specifically their adhesive division…

Shortly stated, with a coat of hot-melt glue and an “inert coating” pass, you can achieve excellent finishing with an energy-saving process, compared to other methods, and a much smaller quantity of materials, with short deadlines and lower costs. It is also a more “ecological” project…

It sounds too good to be true, and instead, from what we have seen and heard, it is.

 

FOURTH “CEFLA LIVE”

Now that we have previewed what was under the spotlights, let’s take a step back and tell the story. The fourth “Cefla Live”, the “open day” organized by the Finishing Group of the Imola-based cooperative association, was a great success. The dazzling “Tech Lab” at Cefla welcomed 660 visitors from 17 to 19 October, more than twice as many as in 2012. Among these, 80 percent came from abroad, further evidence not only that export is our vocation and the greatest opportunity for our companies, but also that, when it comes to finishing, Cefla leads the ranking all over the world, wherever there is glass, furniture or composite to paint.

 

“In these years, Cefla Live has been growing strong – said Alberto Maestri, Sales Manager Cefla Finishing Group – but our philosophy has never changed:offering technologically innovative solutions to our customers, meeting their requirements and matching their working methods, while understanding their real needs and enabling them to choose “what to do”, but most of all “how to do” to open new markets.This means reaffirming our vocation to continuous innovation, to the design and construction of machinery and plants that enable our customers to be more competitive”.

Several machines were exhibited and running for all users to see and touch the possibilities of each product. There were solutions for swiveling spraying (“Easy”, “Mito” and “Prima”), “iBotic” and “Aquadry” for water-based coating cycles, machines and lines to paint glass, parquet, profiles and windows with “iGiotto”, edge coating with “Smartedge”.

 

Also at this Cefla Live, much attention was attracted by digital print. This is no latest news from Cefla, but it is still recent and an increasing number of users is looking at this solution with growing interest, as it delivers results that are really noticeable. Many visitors – including us – stopped to see what digital print can achieve, what you can do and the great decorating flexibility offered by “Pixart Plot”, which can print all kinds of decorations or pictures onto flat or molded cabinet doors, without any problem. The only limit is imagination: if you want to have a new kitchen with your wedding pictures on the cabinet doors, or you prefer a wardrobe with a two-meter-tall Mickey Mouse, or you opt for less fanciful and more “industrial” patterns, the result is always perfect. It’s extreme customization combined with n-squared originality.

 

Undoubtedly, “Cefla Live”, as written in the press release of the Imola group “… has become a major event for the entire finishing supply chain, where the key stakeholders, including Italian and international paint producers, glue producers, suppliers of spraying equipment, abrasive paper, grinding wheels, conveyors and quality control, offer hands-on demos and all-round consulting to Cefla customers, ensuring a tangible benefit to all visitors”.

 

FUSION COATING

Let’s go back to the real news of this open house, namely “Fusion coating”. Presented in partnership with Henkel, this process combines two innovative systems: “Uv hotmelt coating” by Henkel and “Inert Coating” by Sorbini which deliver perfect adhesion and flatness on painted and decorated melamine-faced panels, both for glossy and for matte finishing.

Such technology can be applied to mdf panels as well as rougher particleboard, for panels still to be sent to the cutting saw or already cut and edgebanded parts. This means that users can do as they wish, place the line wherever they want, and fit “fusion coating” into their workflow with maximum flexibility.

There was much talking with Cefla and Henkel engineers at “Cefla Live”, and potential users showed great interest during seminars and tests carried out in the “fusion coating” plant installed at the open house, now available to anyone for real tests on their production.

 

How does it work? Andrea Luca Guiduzzi explained: “Very briefly, we can say that the Uv hotmelt glue by Henkel creates a flexible coating on the panel with one single application, thus reducing the number of coats compared to conventional processes.This adhesive has such features that it helps minimize cracks due to natural particleboard size variations, besides allowing to cut panels at the end of the whole process”.

 

ANDREAS KANZ

Andreas Kanz, Business development manager Adhesive Technologies for wood and constructions, added a sentence that we found really fitting: “The market keeps asking for new solutions, more beautiful products with better quality and lower costs.We make adhesives, we are a big group with intensive research.We have to give tangible answers”.

Going into technical details, Kanz explained that the Uv-curing hotmelt glue “Technomelt Chs 370”, applied directly onto laminated panels, acts as primer for one or more lacquer coats, delivering a final “high gloss” effect as a result of its excellent adhesion to melamine, flexibility and compatibility with Uv paints.

“Together with Cefla – Kanz added – we have developed a process that goes beyond conventional technology to make “high gloss” panels:the application of laminate with high-gloss film on wood-based panels is very expensive, not to mention the problems related to the application of paints and enamels on laminated panels, as current primers offer low adhesion to melamine and are not as flexible and Uv-curing hotmelt adhesives”.

“Technomelt Chs 370 Uv” contains no volatile organic compounds and is roller-spread at operating temperatures between 90 and 100 °C, offering an “interesting” process also in terms of energy usage. Costs are reduced further as the Uv glues “dries” immediately and the workpiece can be moved on directly to the next stage.

 

ANDREA LUCA GUIDUZZI

“We have developed new technology that, we are sure, will be interesting for a huge number of companies in our industry”, added Andrea Luca Guiduzzi. “After all, good ideas very often result from discussion and collaboration:the exchange of opinions and experience between Cefla and Henkel has resulted into a new development of “inert coating” technology based on a specific type of Uv hotmelt glue.

 

It all starts with a melamine-faced panel onto which the Henkel glues is spread using a roller. Intermediate sanding, if necessary, and an “inert coating” pass are performed before final application. That’s it, clean and easy, also thanks to Uv.

“The result is stable, simple and fast to achieve, with the warranty of excellent final quality and trouble-free gripping”, Guiduzzi states.“The line is shorter, about thirty meters versus 80 or 100 with other solutions, it requires less space and less energy, as we have developed a high-performance Uv oven that can do the same work as two conventional ovens.

I add that all our tests have never shown yellowing problems, and we can work on edgebanded panels and with any kind of melamine”.

 

Summing up, as they explained in Imola, we are talking about 40 percent material saving, faster drying cycle, greater stability of the coating film, consistent thickness of the finished panel, which means “zero problem” sanding. Guiduzzi was very clear about costs: a traditional process requires 270 grams of material with an average cost of 1.9 Euros per square meter. “Fusion coating” requires 20 grams of Technomelt, 60 of “inert coating”, 45 of “top coat”, which means 1.2 Euros per square meter, with 50 percent productivity increase. What else could we add?