Laser curing of thermosetting powder coatings: A detailed investigation

Curing of thermosetting powder coating is conventionally done in a convection or infrared oven. Powders requiring 10–15 min at cure temperature in a convection oven reportedly cure within 2–4 min in an IR oven. It has been shown that it is possible to achieve a much faster curing by using a cw CO2 laser. Laser curing has been studied as a function of laser intensity, laser beam size, and interaction time on different substrates. A comparison of laser curing with convection oven curing has been done by studying the results of time–temperature profile, ac impedance, differential scanning calorimetry, and other characterization techniques. The mechanism of laser beam interaction with the powder layer has also been discussed.