A GUIDE TO ELECTROSTATIC APPLICATION

SELEMIX® products have been our customers’ first choice for electrostatic spray application for many years and indeed all our paints can be applied by electrostatic spray equipment.

As the growth of this type of application continues we thought it would be useful to provide an overview of the process and its uses.

The electrostatic spray application is similar process to a normal spray application process, except that the paint particles are electrostatically charged during the process while the object to spray is earthed/ connected to earth. This creates the electrical attraction between the paint particles and the object.

The main advantages of electrostatic application are higher transfer efficiency and reduced overspray. Exact paint savings will vary depending on the shape and size of the objects being painted.

Electrostatic application also provides the user with the ability to ‘wrap’ the paint around a surface, painting the opposite side, which can make the painting of complex surfaces easier and quicker.

The main disadvantages are the cost of equipment, and that the object being painted must be both conductive and well earthed.

The electrostatic charge can be fed to the gun by a wire (via a central control box), or generated inside the gun by a turbine.  Although the turbine guns are easier to set up, the spray gun is more complex to repair, therefore the choice of which system to use is often based on how careful the painter is likely to be with the gun!

Electrostatic spray guns are available as conventional low pressure guns, and as high-pressure air-assisted airless guns. The low pressure gun will generally provide a better wrap-around, due to the lower momentum of the paint particles, but the high-pressure model will give a faster application.

All Selemix products can be applied by electrostatic spray equipment but, dependent on the make and type of equipment, some products may require a small addition of SPP6970 Electrostatic additive in order to optimize the degree of “wrap-around” achieved.