Clear-Resin-Coated Stainless Steel

Clear-Resin-Coated Stainless Steel(Anti Fingerprint SUS)

Stainless steel is the material of choice in many areas where chemical resistance and formability are called for. In addition to these properties, it is also the look and feel as well as the elegant silvery shine of its metallic surface that makes stainless steel such a sought-after material for high-end applications. But even the most attractive designs can be spoiled by difficult-to-remove fingerprints- a problem not only for stainless steel but for all metallic surfaces. The prime objective in the development of clear-resin-coated stainless steel was to significantly reduce stainless steel's sensitiveity to fingerprints while maintaining its attractive appearance. Other requirements were that the coating should be barely perceptible, particularly scratch-resistant, easy to clean and exceptionally temperature-resistant.

Characteristics of Products

• no negative effect on the appearance of the stainless steel
• resistant to fingerprints and stains
• extremely easy to clean
• scratch-resistant and wear-resistant
• resistance to abrasion - durable coating against the mechanical stresses encountered in day-to-day use
• resistance to standard household cleaning agents
• hygienic, odorless and tasteless
• highly resistant to scars during processing like press and forming

Applications

Recently, induction-heating(IH) rice cookers, microwave ovens and dishwashers whose designs utilize the texture of stainless steel instead of white-painted steel sheets or plastics have been marketed, enjouing popular acceptance. This is because the metallic luster as well as the sense of cleanliness and reliability unique to stainless steel found ready acceptance for kitchen use, and home electric appliancemakers have intensified their efforts in product differentiation by design using stainless steel.

Most of the stainless steel sheets used as external panels of these home kitchen utensils are pre-painted steel sheets with a transparent resin coating. As a result of various improvements clear-resin-coated stainless steel sheets has acquired such features as finger-print resistance and easy-stain-wiping, while retaining the luster and sense of cleanliness unique to stainless steel. They have also become highly resistant to scars to the coating film during processing such as press-forming.

However, the application of clear-resin-coated stainless steel sheets to large appliances like refrigerators have still had technical problems to solve. They included the difficulty of delicate hue adjustment and maintenance of uniform appearance when pale hues are added to the clear coating for design purposes, the severe demand for the uniformity of the base stainless steel sheets, and the exacting requirement of material formability. Because of these problems, the application of clear-resin-coated stainless steel sheets has so far been limited to comparatively small items like electric rice cookers.

Newly developed the clear-resin-coated stainless steel retains technical property of uniform appearance that harmoniously combines base steel and color layer, while retaining excellent formability. As a result, the newly developed material has come to be extensively adopted for the front doors of large home refrigerators which symbolically dominate household kitchens with their prominent exstence.

Manufacturing Process

Product Characteristics

Product		Structure (standard feature)	Characteristics	Major usage (Application)
SUS304 H/L			Non-magnetic Good corrosion resistance Applied for parts contact with water or food	Samsung refrigerator
SUS430 #4			Magnetic 430's color is bluish.(cool and luxury) Recommended for open kitchen	Haatz range hood

Type of Surface

Surface treatment code	method and Application	Surface Condition
H/L	Hair line is a type of surface with continuous striped pattern acquired by polishing the surface with No.4 abrasive. It is widely used for building exterior and interior. H/L is also used in sashes and doors.
No.4	No.4 is polished with 150~180 mesh abrasive. Compared to No.3, this product has a finer abrasion condition. Its surface is an attractive silvery-white and is used for bathtubs, building exterior interior and food industry

Applications

Physical Property Test