Charakterisierung der Eigenschaften eines neuen Verbundwerkstoffes

The product WProtect is a composite material consisting of a continuously hot-dip galvanized steel strip coated with a polyolefinic polymer protective film. In order to ensure the chemical bond between the galvanized surface and the plastic film, a harmful primer must be applied to the steel strip as an adhesion agent prior to the coating process. Furthermore, the process speed of the current product is limited to 25 m/min. The aim of this thesis was to characterize the properties and process parameters of a new composite system that works without an adhesion-promoting primer. The formation of chemical bonds between the zinc surface and the polymer depends on the steel strip thickness, steel strip temperature and length of the air cooling section. By using the design of experiments software MODDE11 and a laminating machine on a lab scale, the optimal processing range of the new composite material could be found. As the temperature and thickness of the steel strip increase and the air cooling section extends, the adhesive forces of the zinc-polymer compound increase. The tests conducted to characterize the properties of the new product showed that in terms of corrosion and abrasion resistance as well as formability it behaves at least as good as the old material with primer.