US 11,938,670 B2
Powder coated vacuum formed articles
Thomas E. Houck, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US); and Martin Aaron Butkovich, Ray Township, MI (US)
Assigned to GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed by GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed on Sep. 1, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/463,776.
Prior Publication US 2023/0069556 A1, Mar. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. B29C 51/10 (2006.01); B29C 51/14 (2006.01); B29C 51/26 (2006.01); B29K 105/00 (2006.01); B29L 31/30 (2006.01)
CPC B29C 51/10 (2013.01) [B29C 51/14 (2013.01); B29C 51/264 (2013.01); B29C 2791/006 (2013.01); B29K 2105/0032 (2013.01); B29K 2995/002 (2013.01); B29L 2031/3005 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of forming a thermoplastic plastic component comprising: introducing a sheet of thermoplastic into an oven; heating the sheet of thermoplastic to a selected temperature in the oven; removing the sheet of thermoplastic from the oven and applying an amount of pigmented powder to the sheet of thermoplastic; returning the sheet of thermoplastic coated with the amount of pigmented powder back to the oven; heating the sheet of thermoplastic and the amount of pigmented powder in the oven; bonding the pigmented powder to the sheet of thermoplastic by melting and partially curing the amount of pigmented powder on the sheet of thermoplastic to form a bonded coating of pigmented powder in the oven; re-heating the sheet of thermoplastic and the bonded coating of pigmented powder to another selected temperature; positioning the sheet of thermoplastic over a pattern in a vacuum forming system; and vacuum forming the sheet of thermoplastic after bonding the pigmented powder to form the sheet of thermoplastic into the pattern.