The Art of Fusing Glass to Steel, Perfected.

This is a fundamental misunderstanding. Paint is an organic coating that dries or cures at low temperatures. Porcelain enamel is an inorganic, glass-based coating that is fused to metal at extremely high temperatures. The process requires highly specialized enamel equipment, particularly a furnace capable of reaching over 800°C. The resulting finish is not a layer sitting on top of the metal; it is a new, composite material with a direct molecular bond between the glass and the steel. This is why a true porcelain enamel finish is dramatically harder, more heat-resistant, and more chemical-resistant than any paint could ever be.

Defects like pinholes (small holes in the finish) or crazing (fine cracking) are typically caused by failures in process control that can be eliminated with high-quality enamel equipment. Pinholes are often caused by gases escaping from the steel during firing. A proper ground coat and a precisely controlled, multi-stage firing curve, managed by a TIMS furnace, allows these gases to escape before the glass fully fuses. Crazing is caused by a mismatch in the thermal expansion between the enamel and the metal substrate. This is prevented by using the correct enamel formulation for the specific metal and by ensuring a perfect, strong bond, which is a direct result of meticulous pretreatment and firing—core strengths of our enamel equipment.

Architectural enameling requires very large-scale enamel equipment. The steel panels can be several meters long and must have a perfectly flat, uniform finish. The pretreatment tanks and application booths must be oversized to accommodate these parts. The most critical component is the furnace. It must be exceptionally long and have multiple zones of precise temperature control to ensure the entire panel heats and cools evenly to prevent warping. The conveyor system must also be specially designed to hold the panels perfectly flat throughout the high-temperature firing process. TIMS has the specialized engineering experience to design and build the massive enamel equipment required for these impressive architectural applications.

The porcelain enameling process, which requires highly specialized enamel equipment, involves several key stages. First, the metal part undergoes a rigorous multi-stage pretreatment to be cleaned and etched. Second, the enamel coating is applied. This can be done by dipping the part, by spraying a water-based "slip," or by electrostatically applying a dry glass powder. Third, the part is moved to a drying oven to remove any moisture. The final and most critical stage is firing. The part is conveyed through a high-temperature furnace at 750-850°C (1400-1560°F), which melts the glass particles, fuses them to the metal substrate, and creates the hard, durable, vitreous surface that defines porcelain enamel.