How much do you reallyknow about metal finishing andpowder coating?

Powder coating as a procedure was developed around 1945 by Daniel Gustin. It involves applying the coating as a free-flowing, powder which is then treated under heat to enable it to flow and then cool again to create a skin. This results in a hard finish that is typically tougher than a standard wet paint finish whilst giving a similar, or even superior, finish.

There can be some quite specific advantages to using power coating too. These include not making use of a liquid carrier which means that powder coating can produce thicker coatings being applied than conventional liquid coatings without any running or sagging. In addition, powder coating produces a more uniform finish with hardly any appearance differences between horizontally and vertically coated surfaces.

Powder coating can be applied in two ways; either by lowering the component into a bed of powder, which may or may not be electrically charged, or the powder paint is electrically charged and sprayed onto the part being covered. After being coated with the completely dry paint, the component is placed in an oven causing the powder particles to liquefy before cooling again to create a permanent layer of paint.

There are additionally two main types of powder generally used for powder coating. There is thermoplastic powder, which will melt once more when heat is applied, and thermosetting powder, that will not melt when heated. In the case of thermosetting powder, a chemical cross connecting reaction is triggered when heat is first applied to the powder coating, so that the bonds cannot be broken again, even if the coating is heated up subsequently. The type of powder that is most suitable to use naturally depends on the application that the coated part is designed for.

It's true to state that most powder coating failures are connected to a poor preparation procedure. It is also vital to recognise that preparation needs to be different for different materials.

The preparation of aluminium is the following: clean, wash, etch, chromate, rinse and demineralised rinse.

Oils or grease have to be cleaned off through the use of weak alkali or neutral detergent solutions and the surface is etched in order to eliminate heavy oxides.

After rinsing, the aluminium is dipped in a chromate or phosphate solution to create an adaptation coating. Next the aluminium is rinsed in demineralised water which removes chemical salts on the aluminium surface. This has two functions that include giving the aluminium a surface which is better for adhesion of the powder coating and helping to protect the aluminium from under the paint corrosion.

When preparing a steel item, the steps required to prepare your item are as follows: clean, rinse, etch, rinse, grain refine, zinc phosphate, rinse and acidulated rinse.

The grain refiner is required after acid cleaning of steel surfaces and also prior to zinc phosphate, because without this the zinc phosphate coating generated will be quite coarse and also have a reduced adhesion capability.

As you can see then, the process of powder coating is not altogether a simple one, although the theory of it is quite straightforward. If done correctly, powder coating can produce a finish that is superior in terms of quality and durability, which it is now used so widely for a large range of applications.

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