Why do you need to powder coat your aluminum profiles?

Why do you need to powder coat your aluminum profiles?

Powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing, dry powder.

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 may be a thermoplastic or a thermoset polymer.

It is usually used to create a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint.

Powder coating is mainly used for coating of metals, such as household appliances, aluminum extrusions and automobiles.

Newer technologies allow other materials, such as MDF (medium-density fibreboard), to be powder coated using different methods. From Wikipedia.org.

Organic coating treatment includes powder coating, fluorocarbon coating, and grain processing.

Powder coated aluminum profile is one kind of popular aluminum extrusion surface treatment in the market.

Why do you need to powder coat your aluminum profiles?

Here are the main 6 reasons to powder coat your aluminum profiles：

1. Cost:

Powder coating is usually cheaper than wet paint in the long run, but the upfront costs tend to be higher. Wet paint technology has been around a lot longer (powder coating was developed in the 1950s), so the equipment and materials are more widely available. The savings with powder coating are mostly indirect, but they add up fast.

First, powder coatings have a much better utilization rate. Unlike liquid paint, the powder can be collected and reused. Approximately 70% of paint is lost to overspray during the application, while material loss of powder coating can be kept under 5%.

Cost is also heavily affected by safety and environmental regulation. Because it is more hazardous, wet paint requires more investment in mitigation measures and insurance premiums. Powder coating facilities can keep these costs to a minimum.

Labor costs are also lower for powder coating. It doesn’t rely on highly trained operators. Powder coating can be done well by almost anyone, or even automated.

Powder coating has much lower disposal costs. Less of it needs to be disposed due to the high utilization rate, and any amount that does need to be thrown away isn’t subject to the same tight environmental controls as paint.

2. Economic:

The economic benefits of powder coating are numerous but the largest benefit has to do with efficiency and overspray.

The average transfer efficiency of powder coating is 60-70% and any overspray is solid and can be reclaimed and re-used netting virtually no wasted product.

With liquid paint you have a transfer efficiency of 30-35%, roughly 50% of the product is evaporated and there is no possibility of reclaiming overspray.

3. Safety:

Safely applying powder coating requires precautionary measures to avoid breathing in the powder and getting it on your skin.

This is an easier task to manage since the product is a solid and inert (it doesn’t pose a health risk when not being sprayed).

During application, it is recommended to stay out of the application zone and to avoid getting it on your skin (because of the minimal overspray this is completely manageable).

The product does not contain harmful chemicals such as solvents or volatile organic compounds (VOC) that are often found in wet paint.

4. Environmental:

There are many environmental advantages of powder coating as well. Since there are no solvents or VOCs there is no damage to the environment during application.

The waste is also not hazardous and can be disposed of in a landfill. Wet paint contains harmful chemicals that have been proven to deplete the ozone and produces hazardous waste that needs to be disposed of in an appropriate manner.

5. Mechanical:

Powder coating generally produces a coating twice as thick as standard paint. The real advantage is its flexibility and ability to bend and yield with the material it is applied to.

This makes it ideal in the transportation industry where the products are subject to a lot of vibration and twisting as they move down the road.

6. Production Advantages:

The main advantage from a production point of view is that when the powder-coated product comes out of the oven it is completely cured within 20min and ready to be put to work.

Standard liquid paints can take days to completely cure and depend on the atmospheric conditions.

You can literally put a powder-coated object to work while it is still too hot to touch and not have to worry about wrecking the paint.

Also in terms of production efficiency, with less waste overspray and less risk for runs and other defects, powder coating has become less of an art and a necessary skill taught to production staff.

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