Nippon Paint's groundbreaking universal primer contributes to advancing sustainability within the home appliances industry

Home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines have significantly enhanced the convenience and quality of our daily lives. China has emerged as the world's largest manufacturing hub for home appliances, with the output of major products accounting for more than 50% of the world's total.?

In recent years, PCM (Pre-coated Metal) sheet has become the first choice of many home appliance manufacturers, compared to the traditional methods of powder spraying and film laminating. This is due to a number of reasons – simpler process, higher production efficiency, centralised collection and incineration of solvents and convenient post-processing process.?

In spite of its benefits, this process does have its drawbacks in terms of versatility. According to the requirements of formability of household appliances, PCM steel can be simply divided into general and high formability products. Due to their different coverage, flexibility, chemical resistance and salt spray resistance, manufacturers need to switch different primers to suit different types of substrates and top coat. This not only affects production efficiency, but also requires more manpower and inventory. In addition, coating suppliers must also design different types of primers according to the needs of different customers, thus increasing management costs in raw materials, products, production and warehousing.

To tackle this challenge, it is necessary to develop a general-purpose, cost-effective primer for household appliances. Ergo, a win-win outcome for both upstream and downstream supply chain.?

NIPSEA Group Technology has developed a low-temperature, fast-curing, high performing and environmentally friendly universal primer for home appliances. It possesses a good flexibility performance as well as higher coverage. It can be applied to both general and deep-press formability products and consequently, solves the difficulties faced by the coating industry.?

Five major advantages of Nippon Paint Universal Primer for Home Appliances

1. It can provide a higher adhesion on chromium-free pre-treated substrates;?

2. High versatility, meeting the requirements of both general and deep-press formability products whilst at the same time, matching any other top coatings of customers;??

3. It can achieve low-temperature rapid curing, thereby providing a wider construction window and reducing PMT (Peak metal temperature) from 230°C to 200°C. This enables a reduction of energy consumption and emission of carbon dioxide, on top of improving cost effectiveness;

4. A green and environmentally friendly product, this item does not contain organotin, reduces the use of heavy metals on top of complying to RoHS and REACH;?

5. A more stable performance in terms of thermal storage which reduces the risk of coarsening and MEK decline.?

Dr. Hong Jiang?

Chief Technology Officer, NIPSEA Group

In the coming years, NIPSEA Group aims to expedite the adoption and utilisation of high-performance, eco-friendly universal primers for household appliances. Our goal is to assist home appliance companies to reduce costs, lower energy consumption, decrease carbon emissions, and heighten productivity, helping driving the home appliance industry towards achieving its "Carbon Neutrality" objective.