In the coating industry, a standard question that comes up is, “What is the best way to coat this material?”
The answer is easy: It depends.
It depends on several key factors related to the rheology of the coating, the amount of coating sample, the thickness and accuracy of the final product, and the coating equipment at hand. The final coating requirements are typically a target coatweight +/- 10%, free of defects such as bubbles and streaks, and dried to less than 2% volatiles.
Below is a table that may guide you in your next coating decision.
Coating Methods
Range of Applicability
Coating Process | Viscosity Cp | Wet Thickness um | Coating Accuracy % | Maximum Speed m/min |
| | | | |
Reverse Roll | 50-100K | 12-1200 | 5 | 400 |
Forward Roll | 20-1000K | 10-200 | 8 | 200 |
Calendar | 50-5000K | 100-2000 | 10 | 200 |
Gravure | 10-5K | 2-50 | 2 | 700 |
Knife over Roll | 100-50K | 25-750 | 10 | 150 |
Slot Die | 5-20K | 15-250 | 2 | 400 |
Extrusion | 50-5000K | 15-750 | 5 | 700 |
Curtain | 50-125K | 2-500 | 2 | 500 |
All ranges in the table are good places to start, but many factors lead to a successful coating run. It just depends.
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