How nonstick pans are made
Nonstick pans began with a French engineer who coated his fishing tackle and then his wife's pans.
- stations
- 7
- things upstream
- 23
- raw sources
- 10
- steps from the ground
- 5
The short version
Aluminum pan blanks are sprayed clean with alkaline cleaner and hot water, then blasted with hard iron grit so a coating can grip. After another wash and an acid clean, PTFE is sprayed, brushed or flowed on and air dried. Baking for about five minutes sinters it. Some aluminum pans are pressed from discs already coated.
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Press the shell
A press forms the shell from an aluminum disc. Softer aluminum can even be shaped after coating, while harder metals like steel are coated once they are formed.
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Wash the blanks
High-pressure hoses spray a mild alkaline cleaner and then hot water to remove oil and dirt. A hot rinse and air drying prevent any marks.
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Blast with iron grit
A centrifuge throws hard, sharp iron grit evenly across the aluminum, roughening its surface. An air blast then clears away loose grit.
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Clean with acid
The blanks are washed and rinsed again, and acids restore the bright metal. Etching leaves more surface for the coating to hold.
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Apply the coating
PTFE is sprayed, brushed or flowed across the dry metal, then air dried. Layers build up from a primer that grips both metal and topcoat.
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Sinter in the oven
An oven bakes the coating for about five minutes at a heat that fuses it into a slick film.
about five minutes
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Rivet on the handle
A handle is fixed on after the coating is done, and the pan is packed.
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Worth repeating
- PTFE was discovered by accident in 1938 by Roy Plunkett.
- Tefal was formed in 1956 after French engineer Marc Grégoire coated his wife's pans with the material he used on fishing tackle.
- Past about 260 °C, PTFE begins to break down and give off fumes that can be lethal to pet birds.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and nonstick pan starts as these 10 raw sources.
Everything it is made of See it on the map
Open the whole family tree
Keep walking
Sources
- Explain that Stuff: How nonstick pans are made
- Judge: How is the coating applied to the pan?
- Non-stick surface
- Polytetrafluoroethylene
- Deep drawing
Cite this page: "How nonstick pans are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/nonstick-pan