Markets & Metals

Explore Metal Treatment Markets

In a range of industries, metal treatment processors need to utilize the right ingredients in metal treatment formulations to ensure good adhesion and corrosion resistance, as well as manage environmental and regulatory requirements. Although the industries that rely on metal treatment are becoming increasingly complex, Syensqo is responding to each market’s needs with high-performance solutions that allow customers to address new regulations and performance requirements.

Automotive Metal Treatment

The automotive industry is evolving in response to consumer expectations and regulatory changes, and manufacturers strive to enhance performance in automotive components, adapt to new materials and reduce costs. Aluminum bodies and other aluminum-based parts offer an alternative to steel that can provide weight savings and improved fuel efficiency, braking, handling and acceleration. Additionally, new technology, such as sensors for parking assistance and self-driving technology, require innovative coatings to ensure excellent performance. These parts must be properly treated through cleaning and conversion to ensure sufficient corrosion resistance, adhesive bonding and paint adhesion. Syensqo's ingredients for automotive metal treatment work together synergistically and can help provide low-foam cleaning at low temperatures, improve adhesive bonding and enhance paint adhesion.

To improve paint adhesion in electro-galvanized fasteners, manufacturers can utilize Addibond^TM during conversion treatment. Formulators can include this paint adhesion promoter to ensure improved performance in zinc-coated fasteners for automotive applications

For manufacturers requiring maximized corrosion resistance and paint adhesion in automotive applications, formulators can use Addibond^TM for enhanced passivation. Syensqo provides outstanding additives for passivation, enabling formulators to improve performance in demanding applications with dosages starting as low as 0.025% wt (active).

As manufacturers increasingly rely on new metals like aluminum to encourage lightweighting, formulators must also ensure these materials can maintain performance. Addibond^TM ensures high-performance joint durability, especially in structural adhesive bonding, in aluminum bodies and parts for automotive applications. In some cases, formulations containing Addibond^TMimproved bond strength by 80%.

Construction Metal Treatment

The construction industry is constantly challenged to utilize new materials that provide necessary structural support and strength, while also maintaining lightweight, easy-to-process and easy-to-recycle properties. Extruded aluminum and aluminum alloys address many of these issues for construction manufacturers, but these materials require additional treatment to withstand exposure to challenging environments. The metal treatment process promotes reliable performance in a range of construction applications, including extruded aluminum in frames, flat aluminum and coils, as well as pre-painted HDG coils for facades, roofs and walls.

To ensure products maintain corrosion resistance and paint adhesion throughout service life, formulators can rely on Syensqo's ingredients for metal cleaning and treatment. Our additives for metal cleaning ensure the metal surface is prepared for painting and coating and our additives for metal conversion enhance metal-to-organic adhesion in conversion and passivation phases.

To reach the required level of corrosion resistance in construction applications, aluminum frames may benefit from an additive for adhesion improvement, like Syensqo's Addibond^TM. Improving paint adhesion for aluminum frames ensures enhanced performance throughout product service life.

General Industry Metal Treatment

Syensqo's ingredients for metal treatment are also suitable for formulations that must be versatile enough to work in general industry lines. If lines are manufacturing many different products, such as appliances, furniture, and other goods, their different performance requirements call for chemical mixtures that are adaptable enough to respond to varying needs. Syensqo's Addibond^TM and Addikleen^TM help formulators create solutions that effectively target various metals and performance expectations while requiring few changes in the manufacturing line.

Explore Relevant Metals for Metal Treatment

Syensqo's ingredients and additives for metal treatment are specifically designed to clean and prepare the surface of a variety of metallic substrates, with a significant focus on different types of aluminum and galvanized steel, contributing to increased corrosion resistance, enhanced paint adhesion and an optimal visual finish.

Metal Treatment Additives for Aluminum

While aluminum’s intrinsic properties make it optimal for a wide range of applications, aluminum still needs increased corrosion resistance to meet the advanced demands of today’s automotive and construction industries. These markets continue to require innovative lightweighting, recyclability, environmental consideration and corrosion resistance for long-term performance, increasing the demand for high-quality aluminum components.

Types of aluminum commonly used in automotive and construction markets:

Extruded aluminum is a material often utilized for construction applications. Extruded aluminum is developed by melting and transforming aluminum bars into a specific shape, pushing it through a cross-sectional die to produce a cost-efficient, lightweight product that requires low maintenance.
Flat-rolled aluminum is a material more commonly used for automotive applications. Flat-rolled aluminum is produced by rolling and rotating an ingot into a thinner shape.
Cast Aluminum is most often utilized for the production of inner pieces and components.

Syensqo's contribution to conversion technologies for aluminum

Syensqo's Addikleen^TM and Addibond^TM ranges of metal treatment additives are specifically designed to contribute to a variety of conversion technologies for aluminum. Addikleen^TM is ideal for acidic and alkaline metal cleaners used to prepare the aluminum surface before painting and coating. This family of surfactants demonstrates exceptional cleaning efficiency for aluminum surfaces, removing lubricants and/or other soils from prior processing. Addibond^TM polymers are excellent additives for conversion treatments for aluminum, complementing or replacing chromic, silanes-based and thin organic film-coating processes.

Example of performance with Addibond^TM on aluminum

Complementing a conversion containing Addibond^TM with an efficient two-in-one acidic cleaning/etching cleaner containing Addikleen^TM T CD, it is possible to reach more than 1000 hours in acetic acid salt spray tests on Aluminum.

These synthetic polymers boost paint adhesion in pre-treatments and are compatible with spray, powder and roll painting and lamination application methods. Additionally, Syensqo's Antarox®, Rhodoclean® and Rhodafac® families of cleaning additives are designed to provide excellent foam controlling, wetting, emulsifying and hydrotoping properties for metal treatment formulations.

How Syensqo is Transforming Aluminum Treatment Processes

The Addikleen^TM range of metal cleaning additives helps manufacturers effectively clean aluminum. As an effective low-temperature metal cleaner, Addikleen^TM T CD is easy to handle and cost-efficient, and provides low foam in dip and low-pressure spray cleaning operations. Addikleen^TM is an excellent cleaning and etching agent for aluminum pieces, contributing to superior paint adhesion and anti-corrosion even without conversion treatments.

The Addibond^TM range of specialty metal finishing additives boosts paint adhesion and corrosion resistance of aluminum, such as in automotive bodies and frames, by enhancing metal-to-organic adhesive properties. Addibond^TM acts as a polymer bridge between metal and paint, as it covalently bonds with the conversion surface and chemically bonds with the paint. This family of additives for paint adhesion is utilized in aluminum conversion baths to boost the initial performance, as well as in the sealing as a post-treatment boost in the final rinse.

Powder.coated.aluminum-Performance Process Used (2)

Chrome-free conversion is an environmentally responsible alternative that provides aluminum pieces with strong anti-corrosion performance, requires lower temperature in conversion baths and produces low waste and sludge. Syensqo's Addibond^TM range of additives for corrosion treatments enables efficient chrome-free conversion of aluminum pieces. The addition of Addibond^TM improves the durability of conversion treatments, such as titanium zirconium (TiZr), and contributes to the enhanced workplace safety of manufacturers.

As an additional step in some aluminum treatment processes, passivation further boosts conversion by adding a secondary layer of corrosion-resistant coating. Addibond^TM serves as an excellent additive for passivation treatments of aluminum that enable extension of corrosion resistance or supplemental short-term corrosion protection for storage and transport.

Metal Treatment Additives for Zinc-Coated Steel

Due to its initial cost, exceptional longevity and rust resistance, zinc-coated steel, or galvanized steel is used in a variety of industries including agriculture, solar, automotive and construction. Through a variety of conversion technologies, including iron phosphatation, zinc and trication phosphatation, silanes and titanium/zirconium hexafluorides, galvanized steel exhibits the strength and formability of steel plus the corrosion protection of zinc-iron coating.

Syensqo's Addikleen^TM and Addibond^TM families of high-performance metal treatment additives are optimal ingredients for a wide range of galvanized steel processes. Addikleen^TM range offers manufacturers a selection of specialty materials for galvanized steel cleaning, for either spray or immersion methods. These high-efficiency specialty additives facilitate energy-saving, low-temperature cleaning, spray cleaning and low-foam cleaning. The Addibond^TM range of specialty additives is specifically formulated to improve adhesive bonding and paint adhesion on organic metals, such as zinc-coated steel.

Additionally, Syensqo's Antarox®, Rhodoclean® and Rhodafac® are ranges of metal treatment additives designed to offer exceptional foam controlling, wetting, emulsifying and hydrotoping.

How We Are Transforming HDG Steel Treatment Processes

Syensqo’s Addikleen^TM range of specialty metal cleaning additives provides HDG steel treatment processes with exceptional aged oil cleaning and degreasing. These advanced ingredients for metal treatments are specifically designed for compatibility with anti-corrosion oils, pre-lube and drawing oils to improve steel cleaning efficacy in environmentally friendly methods.

The Addibond^TM range provides enhanced paint adhesion for HDG steel when used in post-treatment steps, such as sealing formulations or in the final rinse. Conversion treatments that utilize Addibond^TM achieve the benefit of better paint adhesion through indirect anti-corrosion properties and increased process durability, while simultaneously shortening processing time.