Spray Coater
Lab Equipment, Large Area Coating, Thin Film Coating
Automate and Simplify your Scale Up with a Spray Coating System
Optimal large area coatings with interchangeable spray heads and a heated stage
Overview | How Does a Spray Coater Work? | Specifications | Different Systems | Features | Gallery
Spray Coater Applications | In the Box
Scale up efficiently with our new spray coating system, designed to help you optimize your parameters in preparation for large scale processes. With interchangeable heads and controllable gas inlet and solution pressure, you can achieve a wide range of spray patterns and droplet sizes. For wider and more uniform spray patterns, the gantry can accommodate multiple spray heads for a maximum coating width of 180 mm.
Control your coating speed, from 0.05 mm.s-1 up to 250 mm.s-1, with the motorized stage. A high resolution of 0.1 mm.s-1 ensures precise and reliable sample movement across a travel distance of up to 290 mm. Speed up the drying process with the heated surface, which can go up to 100 °C and controlled in increments of 1 °C.
Whether you are looking to begin research into the spray deposition of films, or want a smaller setup to optimize new processing parameters the Ossila Spray Coater is perfect for your research needs.
Highly Optimizable
Change pressure, height, speed, and temperature
Coating Flexibility
Interchangeable spray heads and spray nozzles
Coating Large Areas
Multi-head coverage
over 200 mm x 180 mm
Quick Set Up
Start coating in minutes with simple set up and operation
How Does A Spray Coater Work?
Spray coaters usually consist of three main components:
- Spray coating head
- Head movement system
- Solution and gas delivery system
The specifics of these components differ significantly between different systems, but they all need to co-ordinate well together to form an efficient spray coating system.
The spray formation process occurs within the spray coating head. This process has two steps:
- Break up or atomize the coating liquid into suitable droplets
- Shape and direct the newly formed “spray” towards the coating surface
These steps are done almost simultaneously and transform the spray coating solution into a mist or spray that's shaped into a controllable jet of atomized liquid.
Throughout this process, a continuous stream of both coating liquid and gas must be delivered to the head, requiring a controlled fluid delivery system. Additionally, there must be controllable XYZ movement of either the spray coating head or the coating surface to coat over the entire surface area.
By optimizing the coating head speed, distance between the head and substrate and the solution flow rate you can tailor your process to get a good spray-coated film. Depending on the type of head you are using, you will also need to optimize either the ultrasonic frequency or the rate of gas flow in order to change your spray.
Specifications
Spray Coater
| Maximum Stage Travel Length | 290 mm |
|---|---|
| Minimum Stage Speed | 0.05 mm.s-1 |
| Maximum Stage Speed | 250 mm.s-1 |
| Stage Speed Increments | 0.01 mm.s-1 |
| Heated Stage Material | Hard anodized aluminum stage |
| Heated Stage Max Temperature | 100 °C |
| Heating Increments | 1 °C |
| Air Pressure | 0.15 to 7.0 Bar |
| Fluid Pressure | 0.1 to 3.5 Bar |
| Maximum Sample Size | 200 mm x 180 mm |
| Power Supply | DC 24 V, 5 A, via 100 – 240 V 50/60 Hz power adapter |
| Dimensions (D x W x H) | 350 mm x 280 mm x 550 mm (14" x 11" x 22") |
| Weight | 6.45 kg |
Ultrasonic Spray Head
| Spray Pattern | Cone |
|---|---|
| Spray Angle | 80 |
| Droplet Size | 18 µm |
| Solution Mixing | External |
| Solution Delivery | Syphon or pressure driven |
| Inlets | G1/8 liquid, G1/4 gas |
| Material | Stainless steel 316 |
Gas Atomizing Spray Head
| Spray Pattern | Cone or fan |
|---|---|
| Spray Angle | 15 to 90 (depending on air cap) |
| Droplet Size | 30 µm |
| Solution Mixing | Internal or external (depending on air cap) |
| Solution Delivery | Syphon or pressure driven |
| Inlets | G1/4 liquid, G1/4 gas |
| Material | Stainless steel 316 |
Different Spray Coating Systems
The method spray coaters use to break solutions into tiny droplets, or the atomization process, is important. Example atomization methods include:
- Air-assisted spray coating: Where compressed gas shears the liquid into droplets. This can happen:
- Within the spray coating head (internal mixing)
- Outside of the spray coating head (external mixing)
- Ultrasonic spray, where high-frequency vibrations generate a fine, uniform mist.
Choice of method influences droplet size, distribution, and ultimately, film quality. Once droplets land on the substrate, film quality depends on solvent evaporation, droplet coalescence, substrate wetting, and spray parameters such as nozzle settings and spray distance.
Spray Coater Features
Full Set of Spray Heads and Nozzles
Find the best spray setup for your coating requirements with two spray heads included, an air atomizing spray head and an ultrasonic spray head. When using the air atomizing spray head, choose the best spray pattern for your application with a range of different spray pattern nozzles.
Fully Adjustable Spray Head Positioning
Positioning the spray heads is simple. Set the height against the height gauge with the locking arm and adjust the horizontal position by sliding the head mount along the gantry. The suspended gantry also allows for quick addition of extra spray heads for wider coatings.
Large, Heated Coating Area
Coat large area samples up to 200 mm x 180 mm. With space to mount multiple heads side by side you can optimize your spray overlap patterns and produce highly uniform thin films. The heated stage makes the drying process easy to control with adjustments by 1 °C up to 100 °C.
Full Pressure Control
Pressure regulators for both the air infeed and liquid feed make it possible to fully control the spray coating process. The system comes with a 10 ml syringe with a pressure inlet adapter to allow you to pressure drive fluids. Alternatively, you can simply operate the spray heads in syphon mode.
Wide Range of Coating Speeds
Prioritize uniformity in your coatings across different wet film weightings with our tried and tested motorized stage. The spray coater achieves smooth, reliable movement at speed from 0.05 mm.s-1 to 250 mm.s-1. Plus, optimizing your coating speed is easy with speed increments as low as 0.01 mm.s-1
Spray Coater Gallery
Spray Coater Applications
In Industry
Spray coating is used in many industrial sectors due to its scalability and flexibility. Some example applications include:
- Manufacturing: Throughout various industries, spray coated films improve the durability, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance of many machines and components that need to last for years in factory settings.
- Electronics & Display Coatings: Spray-coated conductive polymers can form transparent, flexible electrodes used in touchscreens and displays.
- Functional and Protective Layers: Spray coating techniques are used in the creation of smart windows, sensors, and surface treatments where custom shapes and rapid deposition is very important.
- Automotive Industries: Spray coating processes are great for coating the curved surfaces of car parts.
- Energy Sectors: Spray deposition methods are used to coat wind turbine blades and it is also used for specialized protective coatings on pipelines and valves.
In Research
At some stage, any researcher working on thin film devices or coating layers must consider how their materials can be produced on a large scale. This is known as scalability and some techniques are much more scalable than others.
The most common technique used in wet film research is spin coating. However, this technique can’t coat large areas easily and isn’t suitable for large scale manufacturing. Spray coating is a well-established deposition method used in many industrial processes. Therefore, the ability for researchers to experiment with spray coating on a laboratory scale helps to make early prototypes of exciting new technology, taking research from the lab to market more quickly.
In the Box
- Spray coater
- Ultrasonic spray head
- Air atomizing spray head and air caps
- Pneumatic regulators and connectors
- Power supply (24V 5A)