Any new product featuring VE needs to be planned and designed with the enamelling process in mind. 

With many years of experience, the ECS team is strongly positioned in order to advice on a features or aspects of design that you require. An outline of these considerations is below:

Raw material

Not every alloy of steel or aluminium is suitable for enamelling. Certain grades of metal must be used - a low carbon form of mild steel is specifically designed for enamel, whilst 1050 grade produces good results for aluminium.

Please contact us before manufacturing a product to check whether the raw material is suitable.

Shape 

Glass does not bond well to sharp edges and angles, as it struggles to achieve good adhesion. Even if a thin layer of glass is created, it can burn off during the firing process or on subsequent fires. Products therefore need to be designed with an awareness of avoiding these problems on visible or corrosion-critical ares. 

Just as using the appropriate raw material is critical for successfully applying VE, so any welding must be carefully considered. Heavy welding or using material with too many impurities will cause manifold problems for fusing the glass to the metal substrate. It is therefore best to follow best practice with any necessary welding and to design with the challenges it can pose in mind.

Processing

In order to successfully coat a part, there needs to be some way of hanging or supporting it without leaving a visible mark. The easiest way of doing this is to add some hanging holes in a discreet place.

 Colour

Enamel can be coated in most colours and finishes, including: gloss, matt, metallic, speckled and gradient. One limitation is achieving reds,  bright yellows and bright oranges. Whilst we can coat to a range of RAL or Pantone colours, these shades require the use of Cadmium, which is widely considered toxic to the environment and human health. We therefore currently have a policy of not offering these colours.