• Categories:IR Lamp Technologies & News
• Author:E-DEN Lighting
• Origin:E-DEN IR Lighting
• Time of issue:2025-02-13
• Views:0

(Summary description)Quartz Infrared Heating Technology in Coating Drying Processes

In modern industrial manufacturing, coating drying directly affects the surface quality and production efficiency of products. Traditional hot air drying technology is gradually being phased out due to its high energy consumption, low efficiency, and high maintenance costs. Gas infrared heating, due to the rising cost of natural gas, large equipment volume, and the generation of greenhouse gases, is also facing limitations. As a result, quartz infrared heating technology has emerged as a new, efficient, energy-saving, and environmentally friendly heating solution.

 

Limitations of Traditional Heating Technologies

Traditional electric heating elements commonly use metal resistance wires, which have low electrical-to-heat conversion efficiency, typically around 40%-50%, leading to significant energy waste. These heating elements are exposed to the air, making them prone to oxidation and damage, with infrared radiation efficiency quickly declining. In the coating drying process, traditional heating methods rely on hot air circulation, which causes uneven heat distribution. This can result in inconsistent drying between the surface and the inner layers of the coating, leading to defects such as bubbles, pinholes, and orange peel. Furthermore, due to imprecise temperature control, excessively high or low temperatures can negatively affect the adhesion and gloss of the coating, compromising the final product quality.

 

Advantages of Quartz Infrared Heating Technology

Quartz infrared heating tubes utilize a vacuum-sealing process to encapsulate the tungsten alloy heating element inside a quartz glass tube with an optical transmission rate of over 95%. This design not only prevents oxidation and degradation of the heating element but also significantly enhances the electrical-to-heat conversion efficiency, achieving over 95%. The infrared radiation emitted by the quartz tube has a wavelength of 1.1-4μm in the short to mid-infrared range, which matches the vibration frequency of the resin molecules in the coating. This allows the infrared radiation to effectively penetrate the coating and directly heat the substrate, enabling a gradient heating process from the inside out. This directional radiation technology offers extremely high energy conversion efficiency, avoiding the energy waste associated with traditional hot air drying technologies.

The precise infrared radiation wavelength of the quartz heating tube plays a unique role in different coating types. For example, during the drying of water-based coatings, infrared radiation at the 3.5μm wavelength preferentially excites the resonance of water molecules, accelerating the evaporation rate of water. Additionally, when processing plastic film substrates, the precise temperature control system of the quartz infrared heating tube can keep the surface temperature deviation within ±2°C, effectively preventing heat deformation. This is critical to ensuring the uniformity and stability of the film coating.

 

Improved Coating Quality and Efficiency

Quartz infrared heating tubes create a uniform thermal field, avoiding the common "skin effect" associated with traditional hot air drying processes. Hot air drying tends to cause uneven solvent evaporation, with the surface drying faster than the inner layers, leaving more moisture beneath the surface, resulting in defects such as bubbles, orange peel, and pinholes. Quartz infrared heating tubes, through precise wavelength matching, can evenly evaporate the solvents in the coating, reducing defects and significantly improving the coating quality.

Quartz infrared heating technology, with its high electrical-to-heat conversion efficiency, precise wavelength matching, and stable infrared radiation characteristics, successfully addresses the shortcomings of traditional heating methods. It not only enhances coating drying efficiency and reduces energy consumption but also improves coating quality.