Clear-Coated Pre-Painted Stainless Steel Sheets for Refrigerators

Nippon Steel Corporation
Dai Nippon Printing Co.， Ltd.
DNP Ellio Printing Co.， Ltd.


The clear-coated pre-painted stainless steel sheets jointly developed by Nippon Steel Corporation (President CHIHAYA Akira)， Dai Nippon Printing Co.， Ltd. (President KITAJIMA Yoshitoshi) and DNP Ellio Printing Co.， Ltd. (President SHIMIZU Hisayuki) have been adopted by Sanyo Electric Co.， Ltd.， Toshiba Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation for the front doors of their respective latest-model household refrigerators.

Sanyo， which started using the material since the summer of 2001 in their ”Cool Curtain Series” refrigerators， continues using it in the autumn 2002 models with the color designs entirely renewed. Toshiba and Mitsubishi have decided the full-scale adoption of the material for their new medium to large (380 to 470 liter-class) models released this autumn.

White-painted steel sheets or plastics have mainly been used for the external panels of household kitchen utensils. Recently， induction-heating (IH) rice cookers， microwave ovens and dishwashers whose designs utilize the texture of stainless steel have been marketed， enjoying popular acceptance. This is because the metallic luster as well as the sense of cleanliness and reliability unique to stainless steel found ready acceptance for kitchen use， and home electric appliance makers have intensified their efforts in product differentiation by design using stainless steel.

Most of the stainless steel sheets used as external panels of these home kitchen utensils are pre-painted steel sheets with a transparent resin coating (clear-coated pre-painted stainless steel sheets). As a result of various improvements realized by the suppliers， clear-coated pre-painted stainless steel sheets have acquired such features as finger-print resistance and easy-stain-wiping， while retaining the luster and sense of cleanliness unique to stainless steel. They have also become highly resistant to scars to the coating film during processing such as press-forming.

However， the application of clear-coated pre-painted stainless steel sheets to large appliances like refrigerators have still had technical problems to solve. They included the difficulty of delicate hue adjustment and maintenance of uniform appearance when pale hues are added to the clear coating for design purposes， the severe demand for the uniformity of the base stainless steel sheets， and the exacting requirement of material formability. Because of these problems， the application of clear-coated pre-painted stainless steel sheets has so far been limited to comparatively small items like electric rice cookers.

Joining forces in tackling these technical issues， Nippon Steel， Dai Nippon Printing and DNP Ellio have succeeded in developing and improving the clear-color-resin-coated pre-painted stainless steel which excels in the reproducibility of uniform appearance that harmoniously combines base steel and color layer， while retaining excellent formability. As a result， the newly developed material has come to be extensively adopted for the front doors of large home refrigerators which symbolically dominate household kitchens with their prominent existence.

The technical and design features of the clear-color-resin-coated pre-painted stainless steel sheets which have been newly adopted for medium to large home refrigerators are as follows:

(1) Chromium-type stainless steel (Nippon Steel-developed YUSPDX announced in November 2001)， which is mild， highly-elongating and press-formable like carbon steel， has been applied as the base material so that the steel can be press-formed on the same forming lines and dies as those for the conventional pre-painted carbon steel sheets.

(2) Pale， translucent hues have been added to the clear resin coating to the extent that will not impair the metallic luster of the stainless steel matrix. And fully utilizing the outstanding design expertise of Dai Nippon Printing， superb design effects have been realized by delicately adjusting appearance and hue factors such as luminosity.

(3) Since the product is a clear (translucent) resin-coated pre-painted metallic material which is applied to large panels， even the slightest hue variation or defect can greatly affect the product value of refrigerators. Therefore， the strict quality realization and control different from those applicable to ordinary polished stainless steel products have been implemented not only regarding the clear resin coating but also in the grinding-finishing of the steel material surface. Furthermore， the product is manufactured under an integrated production and quality control system supported by the close tie-up of Nippon Steel， Dai Nippon Printing and DNP Ellio.


With the growing use of stainless steel sheets as external panels of refrigerators which are by far the most conspicuous among kitchen appliances， we look forward to the acceleration of the application of stainless steel to the external panels of all home electric appliances， not limited to kitchen utensils. We will continue to endeavor to offer you clear-color-resin-coated pre-painted stainless steel sheets that can satisfy diverse needs.

Note)Product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nippon Steel Corporation in Japan or other countries. Please be aware that Nippon Steel may not use or have registered some of the aforementioned marks in reader’s countries.




For more information about this release， please call:

OMURA Keiichi，Stainless Steel Division，Nippon Steel Corporation Tel: 03-3275-7869
KANKE Takashi，Public Relations Center， Nippon Steel Corporation Tel: 03-3275-5021
YUI Nobuki， Dai Nippon Printing Co.， Ltd.
Tel: 049-274-2355
YAMAMOTO Yukio DNP Ellio Co.， Ltd.
Tel: 046-285-7752