Armco Inc.

Sherman E Winkle, Sr

Frederick Alan Myers

Lloyd E Cockerham

Joseph A Douthett

Ashok Sabata

A stainless steel sheet suitable for use in the manufacture of an exhaust component. The steel sheet has at least one surface pretreated with a protective coating resistant to delamination at temperatures up to about 540.degree. C. including an inner inorganic portion and an outer organic portion. The inorganic portion includes at least 50 mg/m.sup.2 of a chromium based conversion coating having a thickness no greater then 0.02 mm. The conversion coating contains particulate silica with the weight ratio of chromium to silica within the range of 1:1 to 2:1. The outer organic portion includes a silicone paint containing 40-60 wt. % silicone resin. The silicone paint is dried at a temperature less than 300.degree. C. in less than one minute and then coated with a copolymer of a thermoplastic acrylic and a lubricant or a polymeric olefin. The acrylic copolymer contains 5-70 wt. % of the lubricant and the polymeric olefin contains 90% olefin resin. The lubricant coated steel sheet then is dried at a temperature of a 25.degree.-120.degree. C. for less than one minute to form a film thickness of 0.0005-0.020 mm, having a coefficient of friction of no greater than about 0.05 and a weight of 10-5000 mg/m.sup.2. The dried silicone paint covered by the dry lubricant film is tack-free, impervious to moisture, oil, dirt, and the like with the silicone coated steel sheet ready for forming into an exhaust component with minimal delamination of the dried silicone paint without additional external lubricant being required on the sheet.

Precoated chromium alloyed steel with enhanced paint adhesion for

Process and apparatus for forming a plastic coating on a metal strip. A metal strip is cleaned, surface treated, coated with an electrostatically charged plastic powder in an enclosed chamber using a plurality of spray guns positioned on both sides of the strip, inductively heated to above the melting point of the powder, and maintained in an infrared heater until the fused powder is flowed into a coating having a smooth surface and a uniform thickness. Thermoplastic and thermosetting coatings, having thicknesses of at least 10 microns formed using total induction and infrared heating times of less than 60 seconds, can be fabricated without cracking.

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Franklin, OH, United States of America

Sherman E Winkle, Sr