I love this time of the year when the warm weather finally appears! The plants are growing and life is good! However, it is also the time of the year when shell drying related issues start to creep up!
So, I thought I’d share a few items to check if you start to see an increase in shell cracking as the weather outside starts to warm up.
1) Check to make sure all your fans are operational. Regardless of the type of drying system you use, it is possible that a fan is not operating and as a result, some molds are seeing less air movement.
2) Look for hot spots in the room. The outside walls may start to radiate more heat and molds in that area may start to heat up.
3) Ensure that your RH sensors have been calibrated.
4) Evaluate your current intra-coat dry time against your standard. Changes in your throughput over time can impact dry time between coats.
5) Review your final dry procedures. Are the molds being exposed to enough air flow during final dry?
Obviously, there are a number of factors that can cause shell cracking. But, taking a little time to evaluate changes in your drying conditions will help in identifying the root cause of the cracking. If this review doesn’t resolve your issue, at least you can feel confident to move onto other potential causes of the cracking .
If you want to talk about where your process variability might be coming from, send me a quick email at Julie@keyprocessinnovations.com and I would be happy to help you troubleshoot your process.