THIS PAPER EXPLAINS THEORETICALLY AND EXPERIMENTALLY THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPRAYING METAL AND PLASTIC PANELS ELECTROSTATICALLY. IT IS THEORETICALLY SHOWN THAT THE EFFECT OF CHARGE ACCUMULATION CAN BE MINIMIZED BY APPROPRIATELY PLACING A GROUNDED METAL BACKING BEHIND THE PLASTIC SUBSTRATE. EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED IN A SPRAY BOOTH ENVIRONMENT AND THE RESULTS SHOWED GOOD AGREEMENT TO THOSE PREDICTED THEORETICALLY. SPECIAL GEOMETRICAL CONFIGURATIONS WERE DESIGNED AND USED AS A GROUNDED METAL BACKING TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF A MISMATCH BETWEEN THE PLASTIC SUBSTRATE AND ITS METAL BACKING ON THE QUALITY OF THE PAINT JOB.
