How much do you reallyknow about metal finishing andpowder coating?

First developed in the mid 1940's powder coating entails applying the coating as a free-flowing, powder which is then treated with heat to allow it to flow like a liquid before cooling down to create a skin. This leaves a hard surface that is normally tougher than a conventional wet paint finish whilst providing a similar finish.

Powder coating also has some advantages over using wet paint. These include not using a liquid carrier which means that coatings can be thicker than with conventional liquid coatings without any running or sagging. In addition, it produces hardly any appearance differences between horizontally coated surfaces and vertically coated surfaces.

Powder coating can be applied in two ways; either by lowering the part into a bed of powder, which may be electrically charged, or the powder paint is electrically charged and sprayed onto the component being covered. After being coated with completely dry paint, the component is heated in an oven causing the powder particles to melt before cooling again to create a permanent layer of paint.

In addition, there are two main types of powder available to use. These are thermoplastic powder, which will melt once more when heated, and thermosetting powder, that will not melt when heated. When it comes to thermosetting powder, a chemical cross connecting reaction is triggered when heat is first applied to the powder coating, meaning that the bonds cannot be broken down again, even if the finished coating is heated up again. The type of powder that is most suitable to use obviously depends on the application that the coated part is designed for.

In terms of producing a successful powder coating, it really does all depend on the preparation of the product. It's the case that a lot of powder coating failures are connected to a poor preparation process. It is also essential to recognise that preparation needs to be different depending upon the material.

The preparation treatment for aluminium is along the lines of the following... clean, wash, etch, chromate, rinse and demineralised rinse.

Oils or grease needs removing through the use of weak alkali or neutral detergent solutions and the surface is etched in order to eliminate heavy oxides.

Following another rinsing, the aluminium is dipped into a chromate to give it an adaptation coating and, after rinsing again, the aluminium is rinsed in demineralised water which removes chemical salts on the aluminium surface. This procedure has two functions which include providing the aluminium a surface which is much better for adhesion and protecting the aluminium from under the paint corrosion.

When preparing a steel component, the actions you need to take prepare your material are as the following: 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 before zinc phosphate, because otherwise the zinc phosphate finish produced will be very coarse and have a reduced adhesion capability.

The etch is needed to get rid of the zinc corrosion products which start to form almost right away once the zinc is removed from the galvanizing kettle. The grain refiner ensures a fine phosphate is generated.

So, the process of powder coating is not necessarily a simple one, although the theory of it is relatively straightforward. If done correctly by experts such as Red Box Paint and Powder, powder coating can definitely give a coating that is superior in terms of quality and If you loved this article and you would such as to receive more info relating to Red Box Paint & Powder kindly go to our own web-site. durabilityThis is why it is now used so widely for a large range of applications.