GF98.00-P-2000A Paintwork/Corrosion Protection In Series Production, General

GF98.00-P-2000A Paintwork/corrosion protection in series production, general

Component Identification:

Corrosion protection measures should safeguard the appearance and serviceability of vehicle components for the service life of the vehicle under the extremely different climatic/load conditions found worldwide.

Due to the individual conditions under which our vehicles operate in more than 200 countries on earth, the surface protection must withstand a host of environmental conditions and mechanical loads.

To meet these different requirements, great importance is attached to surface and corrosion protection at DaimlerChrysler. Since there is no process that guarantees an identical high level of corrosion protection on all components under all conditions, many different processes are used alongside each other on the vehicle in the plants.

Attention is paid to minimizing the number of structures that are susceptible to corrosion and protecting those areas that are at risk due to their design from corrosion by means of good ventilation, provision for draining condensation from cavities, etc.

Until the final corrosion protection concept has been defined, the system to be protected has to be examined as a whole. When doing this, it is important to coordinate the many different materials with the respective materials in the profile of requirements by means of laboratory testing and practical trials.

For this reason, many different coating systems are applied in practice and used on different component types using many different processes. The different structural components and paintwork structures that are used in the plants must therefore be considered to be equivalent in terms of quality and longevity.

The material surfaces can be protected by applying metallic and non- metallic coatings (e.g. by oiling, greasing, waxing, painting and applying chemical, metallic, ceramic and plastic coatings). In particular, it is important that the many individual materials in the system should achieve the best possible corrosion protection in terms of quality.

In addition, in special cases the vehicle service life can be positively influenced by the use of corrosion-resistant basic materials.

Conserving resources through the correct choice of materials
The topic of health and safety at work and environmental protection is becoming increasingly more important and critical at DaimlerChrysler.

In order to prevent waste and protect resources as much as possible during the entire service life of our vehicles, the correct materials must be chosen as far back as the product planning phase.

It is extremely important to reduce and avoid pollutants, particularly in the painting area. In collaboration with our partners, we are increasingly using the "Life Cycle Analysis" method. The "Life Cycle Analysis" method involves associating environmental information with the entire lifecycle of our products.

For example, existing and future products are examined in order to find "ecologically correct" materials and production techniques for a component in a case-related way using this powerful methodology.

The increasing know-how in this field gives us the opportunity to obtain information quickly and objectively and to incorporate the knowledge gained in carefully weighed-up decisions.

An increasing number of low-solvent coating materials is being used in the individual plants such as water-soluble or high-solid painting materials. Also in the workshop repair area a changeover is now being made in stages to water-soluble paint materials.

A new internal guideline concerning development to suit recycling at Daimler Chrysler should ensure that ecological material criteria are also observed during all development stages.

Only a program which is finely balanced between process cycle, working techniques, material, people and the environment enables us to consistently live up to the DaimlerChrysler make and the associated prestige of "Quality and longevity".

The diagram above shows the basic production sequence of a painting operation.
The process can be changed at any time due to new process and painting techniques and new paint materials.