Representatives of airframe manufacturers and airlines attending a PPG customer seminar about AEROCRON electrocoat (e-coat) aerospace primer in Busan, South Korea, learned about the technology and its benefits, while having an opportunity for discussion with their peers and PPG technical experts.

Attendees visited a nearby PPG-customer plant to see operation of a full-scale industrial e-coat line that uses PPG technology, and they also toured the PPG facility in Busan, where automotive, industrial and packaging coatings are manufactured.

According to Robin Peffer, PPG global business development manager for Aerocron e-coat aerospace primer, the aerospace industry in the Asia Pacific region is showing keen interest in the process improvement, application, performance and environmental benefits provided by PPG’s e-coat primer technology.

“PPG is uniquely able to offer its aerospace customers global resources across different types of coatings and applications,” Peffer said. “We select locations for these seminars where attendees can see firsthand PPG’s broad coatings expertise so that they understand how they can benefit. To showcase our technology for the Busan event, we worked with the PPG industrial e-coat group in the Asia Pacific region to coordinate the customer line tour and with the team at the local PPG facility for the plant visit.”

Anne Neeson, PPG general manager for aerospace in the Asia Pacific region, joined Peffer in hosting the two-day event, which was the third in an ongoing series of PPG seminars to educate aerospace customers about the advantages of Aerocron primer.

“Attendees represented diverse job disciplines such as quality, procurement, manufacturing and engineering, which provided an opportunity for us to educate people who play different roles in qualifying Aerocron primer for use throughout the aerospace industry,” Peffer said.

Primer provides corrosion resistance, and the e-coat process offers significant advantages over traditional spray primer application. Metal aircraft parts are immersed into an electrically charged Aerocron primer bath, resulting in application that is more uniform, even on hidden and recessed areas of a part. Product utilization with Aerocron primer is significantly higher, with up to a 95 percent transfer ratio and no overspray, eliminating related worker exposure and producing near-zero waste. The water-based system dramatically reduces volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions compared with traditional spray-applied systems. The e-coat line can be automated, and parts can be coated and cured in two hours, compared with days to achieve full cure using traditional primers.

Aircraft operators benefit from the reduced coating weight with Aerocron primer, achieving enhanced aircraft fuel economy. Weight savings can be about 30 percent for flat parts and up to 75 percent on complex-shaped parts.