Decoating operations for repurposing end-of-life (EOL) automotive metal sheets

This article considers a process for repurposing panels from end-of-life automobile body parts. The process is based on flattening, a plastic deformation operation that can be realised with a hydraulic press equipped with flat dies. Focus is placed on automotive coatings. Four automotive coatings removal methods are considered and analysed, namely: chemical decoating, mechanical decoating by brushing, mechanical decoating by grinding and laser decoating. A comparison in terms of quality and productivity is then made. From experimental results, mechanical decoating by brushing and mechanical decoating by grinding are the most appropriate among considered removal methods respectively for high productivity and high quality requirements.