Cure Time 101

What is Cure Time?

Cure time is the period required for a paint or coating to reach its sufficient hardness, chemical resistance, and durability. This includes the time required for the part to ramp up to the required temperature, plus the time at temperature to cure the coating.

What is Throughput in Industrial Finishing?

Your throughput is the total number of units a manufacturing line can produce in a given time. Higher throughput means higher efficiency.

What is Takt Time?

Takt time is the time frame to process one unit to meet customer demand (i.e., minutes/unit).

How does cure time, throughput, and takt time tie together?

Let's say you need to produce 80 units in an 8-hour shift to meet customer demand. That works out to 10 units every 60 minutes so your takt time should be 6 minutes per unit. 

But if each part needs 18 minutes to cure... How do you keep up?

This is when cure time becomes a bottleneck.

How to Shorten Cure Times

Optimize Oven Space

Changing rack configurations can increase part density and reduce wasted space in the oven. In our example, fitting three units in the oven at one time could fix the issue, allowing you to increase throughput and meet customer demand. 

However, fixes aren't often that simple. 

Other Ways to Reduce Cure Time Include:

Analyze Your Curing Process

A thermal profile can uncover inefficiencies in heat distribution and show opportunities for faster curing.

Improve Oven Airflow

Increasing oven air velocity improves heat transfer reducing oven cycle time without requiring more heating energy.

For Powder Coating Operations, Consider Adding an Infrared (IR) Oven

IR ovens can heat parts quickly before entering the high velocity section of convection oven, reducing total cure time.

Explore New Formulations

Formulations like dry-on-dry or low-cure powder coatings - Some Sherwin-Williams coatings eliminate the need to cure between primer and topcoat, while others cure at 160℃ instead of 180-200℃, reducing both cycle time and energy use.