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What is Powder Coating?

Powder coating is a type of coating that is by far the youngest of the surface finishing techniques in common use today. It produces a high specification coating which is relatively hard, abrasion-resistant, tough, and can be bent to a certain degree.

The main difference between a conventional liquid paint and a powder coating is that the powder coating does not require a solvent to keep the binder and filler parts in a liquid suspension form. The coating is typically applied electrostatically and is then cured under heat to allow it to flow and form a “skin”. The powder then becomes a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint.

Advantages

There are several advantages of powder coating over conventional liquid coatings:

• Powder coatings emit zero or near zero volatile organic compounds (VOC).
• Powder coatings can produce much thicker coatings than conventional liquid coatings without running or sagging. Powder coating overspray can be recycled and thus it is possible to achieve nearly 100% use of the coating.
• Powder coating production lines produce less hazardous waste than conventional liquid coatings.
• Powder-coated items generally have fewer appearance differences between horizontally coated surfaces and vertically coated surfaces than liquid coated items. Many manufacturers actually prefer to have a certain degree of orange peel since it helps to hide metal defects that have occurred during manufacture, and the resulting coating is less prone to showing fingerprints.

Disadvantages

While powder coatings have many advantages over other coating processes, there are some disadvantages to the technology. While it is relatively easy to apply thick coatings which have smooth, texture-free surfaces, it is not as easy to apply smooth thin films. As the film thickness is reduced, the film becomes more and more orange peeled in texture due to the particle size and glass transition temperature (TG) of the powder. Also, powder coatings will break down when exposed to UV rays between 5 to 10 years.

Media blasting is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface, or remove surface contaminants.

It’s important to consider that a paint job is only as good as the surface preparation of the metal being painted. Media blasting is a fast, affordable and safe way completely strip paint, bond, grime, and rust in order to provide a clean palette for coating.

DISCLAIMER

– Powder Coated is not responsible for the structural integrity of items due to their age and condition prior to restoration. We are also not responsible for holes (due to rust) after the sandblasting process or breakage of bolts during the disassembly or assembly process.

– Cast aluminum and magnesium parts may experience an out-gassing and/or bubbling in the finished powder coat. We will take every precaution to avoid out-gassing, however, we can’t be held responsible for bubbling caused by porous castings.