Cationic electrophoretic coating process

Claim 1

In an electrophoretic coating process using a bath prepared from a cationic electrophoretic coating composition having a solids concentration of 10 to 25% by weight and a pH maintained at 6 to 8 in which process the bath is replenished with a cationic electrophoretic coating composition having a low neutrality to adjust the pH to 6 to 8 and maintain the solids concentration at 10 to 25% by weight, the improvement comprising maintaining said pH and said solids concentration without using an ion exchange membrane by using as said replenishing composition a composition selected from the group consisting of a replenishing composition (1) and a replenishing composition (2), composition (1) and a replenishing composition (2), the replenishing composition (1) being prepared by admixing a replenishing coating agent having a lower neutrality than the cationic electrophoretic coating composition, substantially the same solids composition as the cationic electrophoretic coating composition except pigment and a solids concentration of 40 to 80% by weight, with a portion of the cationic electrophoretic coating composition being used for the coating process so that the resulting mixture has a solids concentration of 30 to 45% by weight, the replenishing composition (2) being prepared by admixing the replenishing coating agent described above with a portion of the cationic electrophoretic coating composition being used for the coating process to formulate a replenishing primary premix having a solids content of 25 to less than 30% by weight or more than 45 to 50% by weight and further admixing the premix with a portion of the cationic electrophoretic coating composition being used for the coating process so that the resulting mixture has a solids concentration of 10 to 30% by weight.