Anticorrosion Innovations at Peugeot Citroën

Automotive IQ interviewed Rodolphe Anquetil, Head of the Anticorrosion Department at PSA Peugeot Citroìn, who will be speaking at IQPC’s Automotive Corrosion Protection Conference in February, 2016. We had a chance to get some insight into the anticorrosion innovations and new tech used in Peugeot Citroìn.

Mr. Anquetil, what is your role at PSA and where do you set your focus in work?

I’m the corrosion department manager with a focus on new products development (steel coatings, pre-treatment, E-coat) and new process. I’m in charge of the product specifications, homologations, industrializations and quality/costs in PSA plants.

What are the most important innovations in the pre-treatment process in recent years that make your life easier?

The most important innovation is the Zr-thin film technology in order to replace traditional tri-cations phosphatation. I won’t say it makes my life easier because as a new concept, we had to deal with some issues, but it is rather a success

With the use of ever diverse materials such as composites, aluminum, carbon fibre etc. How is this affecting PSA’s approach to reduce paint and energy during the process?

The implementation of aluminum use (motorhood, fenders, doors, …) is also an opportunity to change our pretreatment because traditional phosphatation produce a lot of aluminum sludge and cannot work with more than 15% aluminum. With new Zr thin-film technology we can treat as much aluminum as wanted, while making energy savings (room temperature process, less agitation) and water treatment savings.

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How can new technologies contribute to a better corrosion protection right from the beginning in terms of energy consumption, paint finish quality and cost per unit?

New Zr-thin film technology doesn’t improve the paint finish quality and the corrosion protection (equal to previous technology) but we have cost savings (energy consumption, water consumption, less waste water treatment, less sludge, less maintenance etc.)

What are you presenting at the conference and why is this significant to the industry?

I will present the implementation of zr-thin film technology in PSA plants, replacing traditional phosphatation. It allows to get rid of CMR nickel salts and make cost savings. PSA is a strong European leader for this technology, with now 10 plants converted in the world (7 in Europe).