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Pretreatment for painting of aluminum flat sheet

January 10, 2010

We are production company producing print finishing equipment.
Recently we decided to change steel frame to aluminum sheet 3/8 x 6. At the present time we have a problem with paining. We know that aluminum should be anodized before painting,but is there any way to paint aluminum without pretreatment ?
Thank you .
ERSO

Aleksandr Alayev
production - Toronto, On, Canada

January 11, 2010

Hi, Aleksandr. It is not true that the aluminum should be anodized. Rather, it should be chromate conversion coated. Next best would be phosphatization in a phosphate system designed for mixed metal. It is possible that you can get adequate adhesion with a self-etching primer without doing the conversion coating, adequate for a do-it-yourselfer, but it isn't really the right approach for equipment that will be sold. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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