Richards Wilcox Garage Doors benefit from Tantec’s Corona Treatment

For many people, the garage door is the second entrance to the home. Before you can walk through your front door, you park your car in the garage, and that is where the garage door becomes the focus. You, obviously, want it to be functional. And it should fit the overall style of your home. However, the technology that goes into making such a garage door is not something most people think about, but the people at Richards Wilcox do. To make the garage doors both secure and functional, the garage door is made up of sections or panels to allow the garage door to roll up and fold. Each door section has steel skin exteriors and a layer of polyurethane foam that keeps the skins together and provides for greater thermal efficiency. Richards Wilcox has perfected this foaming technology over time by constantly developing its processes to create the best possible end product. Here we look into how the garage doors benefitted from Tantec’s Corona Treatment.

Plasma Treatment Improved Adhesion

One of the quality-ensuring initiatives was to look into plasma treatment options to improve the adhesion on the panels. This treatment changes the surface tension to increase the adhesion value, so using that would ensure that the polyurethane foam would adhere even better to the panels. They researched the companies that manufactured machines that performed this plasma treatment and quickly decided that Tantec was the best choice. 

When Richards Wilcox reached out to Tantec, an agreement was readily made to do some trials before Richards Wilcox purchased a machine to ensure they chose the suitable machine for the task: “So, Scott Beatty from Tantec came in, he brought in a little portable Corona treatment unit, and we did some treatment tests. We ran some tests, and we did see a lot of positive results in terms of adhesion.” From there, it was a no-brainer for Richards Wilcox to choose the Tantec SheetTEC unit for their production lines: “At that point, we placed the order with Tantec to get two units for our two lines. The installation happened right then and there when they arrived, and now they are running full-time. So far, we haven’t had any real issues, and our test results show increased adhesion.” 

A Great Collaboration

Throughout the process, Richards Wilcox was impressed with Tantec’s service. In relation to the installation and prep work, Kumar spoke to the Danish office: “When the installation was going on, we had a couple of minor issues. But again, the Danish office was great. I have zero complaints about it. They were super responsive in trying to resolve the issues, sending us replacement parts very quickly and all that.”

Richards Wilcox soon found that their newly installed equipment was straightforward to operate. At Tantec, we’re proud and happy that implementation has been such a resounding success but, to Scott Beatty, this is no surprise: “Working with the people at Richards Wilcox has been nothing but great. They have been super professional and knowledgeable from the get-go, so I’m not surprised their production line easily benefits from the corona treatment technology.” 

The equipment Richards Wilcox Chose for corona treatment

Richards Wilcox chose a Tantec SheetTEC unit for their production line. The SheetTEC unit is a 34” wide High-Frequency Corona Treater. The unit at Richards Wilcox is equipped with ceramic electrodes for the optimized treatment of their non-conductive polymer door panels. The SheetTEC is integrated into Richards Wilcox’s conveyor system as a pass-through solution to ensure high capacity in the production flow. In business since 1912, Richards Wilcox has established a reputation for exceptional quality and customer service. Richards Wilcox’s sectional overhead doors are engineered to the highest industry standard, using superior hardware components and exclusive Neufoam™ Polyurethane.