Autodeposition is a waterborn process which depends on chemical reaction to achieve deposition. Henkel with its American daughter company “Parker Amchem” who invented this technology, decided to set up an European coating business group to market Autodeposition technology in Europe in 1992. This technology is also known by its brand name Aquence® which was formerly known as Autophoretic.

This first few plants for Europe were installed in 1995, since its inception, this unique process has been employed to coat over one million square meter of surface. There are numerous installation in operation, coating variety of fabricated steel parts for automotive and general industry market.

The first few for Europe were installed in 1995 & another 11 plants were installed in 1996.

In Aquence® electricity is not required. In this process the “Green” film is rinsed in a special “reaction rinse solution” and subsequently, cured to produce an exceptionally hard film. The unique feature of the autodeposition process is the formation of a very uniform film over the entire surface of the work piece, even in difficult to reach areas. This allows the coating dispersion to flow into and around the most complex shapes.

Principle of Autodeposition

Autodeposition is defined on the controlled deposition of neutral or negatively charged organic particles on the work piece via a chemical reaction. The work piece is positively charged due to positively charged ions originating from the metal surface. This effect is known as Autophoresis.

Autodeposition bath consists of pigmented emulsion polymer dispersed in water. The bath solids vary between 3% to 5% by volume and 4.5% to 6.5% by weight. Bath viscosity is closed to water. The pH of the bath is acidic between 2.0 - 3.0.