Imagine a finish so durable and flawless that it transforms the look and feel of any surface it touches. That’s the power of choosing the right powder coating. Kroma Coating, a trusted name in high-quality finishes, provides solutions that ensure both exceptional protection and stunning aesthetics.
As demand for premium coatings increases, selecting the best material has become more important than ever. Whether you're aiming to protect, beautify, or both, the right choice ensures your projects not only last but also thrive over time.
In today’s world, where durability and appearance are equally essential, the right powder coating truly makes all the difference.
Powder coating is a dry finishing process where fine particles of pigment and resin, often called powder paint coating. Which are electrostatically charged and sprayed onto a surface. The coated object is then heated, allowing the powder to melt and form a smooth, durable, and uniform finish.
This method is widely used across various industries due to its ability to produce high-quality, long-lasting coatings in various powder coating colors without the need for solvents or other harmful chemicals.
One of the major environmental benefits of powder coatings is the absence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are typically found in traditional liquid paints.This makes powder coating an eco-friendly option, as it significantly reduces harmful emissions and waste, contributing to a cleaner and safer environment.
Powder coatingsoffer several advantages that make them a preferred choice for many applications.
Durability: Powder coating creates a tough, resilient finish that is resistant to chipping, scratching, fading, and corrosion, making it ideal for both indoor and outdoor use.
Cost-Effectiveness: While the initial setup for powder coating may be higher, the long-term savings are significant. The process is efficient, with minimal waste, and the coatings require less maintenance over time, reducing overall costs.
Environmental Benefits: As mentioned earlier, powder coating contains no VOCs and produces minimal waste. Additionally, overspray can be collected and reused, further enhancing its environmental credentials.
By understanding these basics and benefits, it’s clear why powder coatings are a smart choice for those seeking high performance, cost efficiency, and environmental responsibility in their coating solutions.
When selecting powder coat powders, it's important to ensure compatibility with the substrate you're working with. Different materials, such as steel, aluminum, and plastics, have unique properties that influence how well the powders for powder coating adhere and perform over time. Choosing the right one for your specific material will ensure optimal adhesion, a high-quality finish, and long-lasting durability.
Substrate
Recommended Powder Coating
Compatibility Notes
Steel
Epoxy, Polyester
Excellent adhesion and corrosion resistance
Aluminum
Polyester, Polyurethane
Good for outdoor use; UV stable
Plastics
Low-temperature powders
Requires careful selection to prevent warping
The aesthetic finish is a key consideration when selecting the best powder coating material. Powder coating colors are available in various finishes, including matte, gloss, and metallic. These finishes can greatly affect the appearance and feel of the coated surface.
Matte Finish: Offers a smooth, non-reflective surface, perfect for a more subtle, sophisticated look.
Gloss Finish: Provides a shiny, reflective surface that enhances the vibrancy of powder coating colors and RAL colors.
Textured Finish: Adds depth and texture to the surface, which can help conceal imperfections and provide added grip.
For outdoor and industrial applications, it’s important to consider the environmental and durability factors when choosing powders for powder coating.
Weather Resistance: Ensures that the coating holds exposure to various weather conditions, such as rain and extreme temperatures, without deteriorating.
UV Stability: Protects the coating from fading or chalking under sunlight, helping maintain the original vibrancy of the powder coating colors.
Durability: Provides strong protection against wear and tear, ensuring that the coated surface remains intact and visually appealing for an extended period.
When selecting the right powders for powder coating, it's important to understand the unique properties and ideal applications. At Kroma Coatings, we offer a variety of high-quality powders to meet diverse coating according to your needs
Antimicrobial powder coatings are specially formulated to inhibit the growth of bacteria, mold, and fungi on coated surfaces. These coatings are ideal for healthcare facilities, food processing areas, and other environments where hygiene is critical. The antimicrobial properties provide an added layer of protection, ensuring that surfaces remain clean and safe for longer periods.
Bonded metallic powder coatings offer a striking, metallic finish that is both durable and visually appealing. These powders for powder coating are created by bonding metallic pigments to the powder, resulting in a uniform, high-gloss finish. They are perfect for automotive parts, decorative items, and architectural elements where a premium, eye-catching appearance is desired.
Epoxy powder coatings are known for their excellent adhesion, chemical resistance, and durability. These coatings are ideal for indoor applications, such as industrial machinery, appliances, and automotive parts, where surfaces are exposed to harsh chemicals and require strong protection. However, they are not recommended for outdoor use due to their susceptibility to UV degradation.
Fluoropolymer powder coatings are renowned for their exceptional weather resistance, UV stability, and chemical resistance. These coatings are often used in high-performance architectural applications, such as building facades, window frames, and other exterior components that require long-lasting protection against environmental factors.
FDA-compliant powder coatings are designed to meet the stringent high heat requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food contact applications. These coatings are ideal for equipment and surfaces in food processing, packaging, and pharmaceutical industries, ensuring that coated surfaces remain safe and compliant with regulatory standards.
Hybrid powder coatings combine the best properties of epoxy and polyester powders, offering a balanced solution for mixed-use applications. These coatings provide excellent chemical resistance and adhesion from epoxy, along with the weather resistance and UV stability of polyester. They are suitable for indoor items that may occasionally be exposed to outdoor conditions, such as light fixtures and office furniture.
Polyurethane powder coatings are known for their excellent abrasion resistance, flexibility, and high-gloss finish. These coatings are ideal for offering TIG and Non-TIG formulations applications that require a durable and aesthetically pleasing finish, such as automotive components, outdoor furniture, and metal railings.
Polyester powder coatings are the preferred choice for outdoor applications due to their superior UV stability, weather resistance, and color retention. They are commonly used on garden furniture, automotive exteriors, and architectural structures, ensuring that the surfaces remain vibrant and protected against fading and corrosion.
Super-durable powder coatings are designed to provide enhanced durability and long-lasting protection in extreme environmental conditions. These coatings offer superior resistance to weathering, UV light, and abrasion, making them ideal for use in harsh outdoor environments, such as coastal areas, industrial sites, and high-traffic public spaces.
Achieving a flawless finish with powder coat powders starts with a meticulous pre-treatment process. This crucial step ensures that the powder coating adheres perfectly to the substrate, resulting in a durable and long-lasting finish.
The process begins with thoroughly cleaning the surface to remove contaminants such as dirt, grease, and rust. Once cleaned, the surface is often treated with a chemical etching or phosphating solution.
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This treatment not only enhances adhesion but also increases the coating's resistance to corrosion, making it particularly important for metals like steel and aluminum. Proper pre-treatment is the foundation for a successful powder coating application.
The application of powder coat powders can be done using either manual or automated spray techniques, each offering distinct advantages depending on the project requirements.
Manual Spraying: Manual spraying provides greater flexibility and control, making it ideal for intricate or custom jobs. This technique allows for precision application, especially when working with complex shapes or when aiming for a specific finish, such as a textured powder coating.
It also enables the operator to adjust the spray pattern and thickness as needed, ensuring even coverage and a high-quality finish.
Automated Spraying: For large-scale production automated spraying systems are the preferred choice. These systems deliver consistent and efficient application, especially when working with standard powder coating colors across extensive surfaces. Automated systems are designed to maintain a steady flow and precise application, reducing the likelihood of errors and ensuring that each piece is coated uniformly.
Choosing the right spray technique depends on the nature of your project. Manual spraying is often best for smaller, more detailed jobs, while automated spraying excels in high-volume production scenarios.
The curing process is the final step in powder coating 101 and is essential for achieving a strong, durable finish. After applying the powder coating, the coated item is placed in a curing oven where it is heated to a specific temperature. This heat causes the powder coat powders to melt and fuse into a smooth, solid layer.
Proper curing is important for ensuring that the coating not only adheres well but also attains the desired properties, such as hardness, gloss, and resistance to wear. If the curing process is not precisely controlled, it can lead to a range of issues.
To achieve the best results, it's important to monitor the curing process closely, ensuring that the temperature and time are correctly calibrated for the specific powder coating being used.
Poor Adhesion: One of the most common issues in powder coating is poor adhesion, often caused by improper surface preparation.
Contaminants: Oil, dirt, and rust left on the surface can prevent proper adhesion, leading to peeling or flaking.
Pre-Treatment: Using appropriate chemical treatments like phosphating or etching helps improve adhesion and ensures a durable, smooth finish.
Humidity: High humidity can cause powder clumping, making even application difficult.
Temperature: Extreme temperatures can affect the flow and curing process, leading to inconsistencies in the coating.
Control Measures: Working in a climate-controlled environment and storing powders in cool, dry conditions can help maintain consistent results.
Orange Peel Effect: An uneven application or low curing temperatures can cause a rough, bumpy surface.
Under-Curing: Insufficient curing time or temperature results in a weak and easily damaged finish.
Solution: Ensuring correct application thickness and maintaining the recommended curing temperature and duration is crucial to avoid these issues.
Powder coating is a dry finishing process where finely ground particles, known as powder coat powders, are applied to a surface and then heated to form a protective and decorative layer.
Powder coatings work by electrostatically charging the powder coating colors and spraying them onto a surface, which is then heated to bond the powder into a smooth, durable finish.
The best type of powder coating depends on your application; for outdoor use, polyester powder coatings are highly recommended due to their UV stability and weather resistance. Kroma Coatings offers a variety of polyester options ideal for outdoor durability.
Common materials used in powder coating include metals like steel and aluminum, as well as heat-resistant plastics, which are compatible with various powder formulations.
Good quality powder coating powder should have a smooth, even finish with no visible defects, such as pinholes or orange peel, and should pass adhesion and durability tests. Choosing a reliable supplier, likeKroma Coatings, can help ensure you receive high-quality products that meet these standards.
The best settings for powder coating typically include a spray gun voltage of 60-80 kV, proper air pressure, and maintaining an oven temperature according to the powder coating powder suppliers' guidelines to ensure a uniform, high-quality finish.
Selecting the best powder coating for your application may seem straightforward; however, providing your powder supplier a detailed description of the coating performance needs for your parts will avoid headaches with the ultimate quality of your products.
Choosing the right powder coating is even more critical if you offer a warranty to your customers. The guidelines presented in this article are general in nature and allow you to understand the basic differences in performance among the most common powder coating types commercially available. Please note that nopot all powders are created equally. Formulators fine tune products for specific requirements, so one polyester powder coating may not be equal in performance to another polyester powder. Be aware that in most cases you get what you pay for. Lower cost products probably have higher levels of low performance ingredients (e.g. fillers) and hence lower performance, so don’t always buy on cost.
Weatherability
The very first property to consider is whether the coating will be subjected to sunlight (see Table 1). Must the coating resist fading, chalking and color change when exposed to UV light? If you have a warranty, what does it state regarding the retention of color, gloss and coating integrity and for how long?
For most industrial applications, a standard polyester (TGIC- or HAAcured) will suffice. With this chemistry you can expect reasonable color and gloss retention after a year or two of continuous outdoor exposure. Polyesters serve the lawn equipment and entry level outdoor furniture markets well. If a higher level of UV durability is required, “superdurable” polyesters may fit the bill. When properly formulated (with outdoor durable pigments), superdurables provide excellent preservation of appearance for up to five years of outdoor exposure. Higher durability requirements such as automotive exterior trim parts and commercial architectural applications usually require acrylic or fluoropolymer-based powders, which can maintain color and gloss for 10 to 20+ years.
Corrosion Resistance
Corrosion resistance can be a critical property depending on where your product will be placed in use. ISO -2 is a helpful guide to designate the range of atmospheric corrosion a product may encounter (see Table 2). It divides the severity into six categories of both indoor and outdoor environments. Advising your powder supplier as to what type of corrosive environment your products will encounter helps them recommend not only the best powder chemistry, but also influences what type of metal cleaning and pretreatment is needed to meet your requirements (see Figure 1).
Powder coatings typically have relatively good corrosion resistance as a one-coat compared to most liquid paint counterparts. That being said, not only is it crucial to ensure that you utilize high quality substrate and pretreatment, but it is also wise to consider using a two-coat system for extremely corrosive environments. The marriage of a high quality epoxy primer with a tough, UV durable topcoat can provide the best of both worlds.
Epoxies offer the very best corrosion resistance, but invariably degrade and eventually erode when exposed to sunlight. Hence, they perform well in indoor environments or when applied to substrates that will be buried (e.g. rebar and some pipelines). Hybrids and polyurethanes generally provide very good resistance to corrosion over high quality pretreated substrates. Polyurethanes have the added advantage of good UV durability and can meet the requirements of some moderate coastal environments (e.g. ISO -2 C3). Polyesters deliver good corrosion resistance performance for non-demanding industrial applications such as lawn and garden and entry level architectural products (e.g., screen doors).
Chemical and Stain Resistance
Chemical and stain resistance are important criteria to consider when choosing a powder coating (see Figure 2). Resistance to cleaners, disinfectants and polishing compounds is an obvious need for most coatings. In addition, more specific requirements such as resistance to fingerprints, food products, lubricating oils, sealants, solvents, mortars, fuels and hydraulic fluids may be a coating requirement. Communicating these properties to your coating supplier will help hone in on a powder that will perform acceptably in the field.
Epoxies and polyurethanes are your best bet for applications that have demanding stain and chemical resistance requirements. In addition, fluoropolymers possess excellent chemical resistance, albeit at a rather high price. Acrylics also exhibit very good chemical resistance, especially for automotive-related products such as gasoline, motor oils and hydraulic fluids. Polyesters can be considered general purpose coatings for low to moderate exposure to chemicals, some food products and cleaning agents.
Appliance manufacturers require a coating to resist staining from common food products and cleaners.
The use of ASTM D Standard Practice for Fluorescent UV Condensation, commonly accomplished with a QUV Accelerated Weathering Tester, is a good lab procedure to determine outdoor durability.
Mechanical Properties
A durable surface is needed for coated products which will experience repeated use. Surface toughness can be characterized as hardness; and/or abrasion, scuff and scratch resistance. These properties are slightly different, so setting a specification can be a challenge. Coating hardness helps provide a tough surface; however, hardness alone may not be enough to meet the requirement. Sometimes surface slip or a low coefficient of friction is needed as well. Coating formulators can supply a powder that gives a slippery surface, and this may be the answer.
Mechanical flexibility is a key property, especially if you have any rigorous post-coating assembly steps. If your coated parts will undergo further forming or an intense fastening process, it is important to use a powder with excellent flexibility. Typically epoxies, hybrids (epoxy-polyester) and most polyesters exhibit excellent flexibility and impact resistance. Acrylics, superdurable polyesters and many dead matte coatings are relatively brittle and may not be the first choice for mechanical flexibility.
Appearance
Appearance properties, of course, are critical for most applications. Color is created by the pigments formulated into a powder coating. It is important to specify the lighting conditions your product will experience as coatings can appear a perfect match under one illumination source, but not under another. For example, coatings may match in a fluorescent office environment, but may look different under natural sunlight. This is due to the reflectivity and light absorption of the pigments in the formula. Therefore, it is essential to inform your powder supplier about these lighting conditions.
Gloss is an important appearance characteristic and should be specified not only generically as high, low, semi-gloss or matte; but should be described as a specular gloss range (see Table 3). This can be measured using a glossmeter, which can be obtained from a number of instrument suppliers (please see Auxiliary Equipment under Members at www.powdercoating.org). These devices can measure gloss at two or three different angles depending on the instrument. Specular gloss is measured in gloss units (GU) and not as a percentage as many people think. A gloss specification should be a range (e.g. +/- 3 GU) to be practical.
Check the Specs
Although it may not be possible in all cases, providing a specification to your supplier is the ideal way to communicate the coating performance requirements for your products. A specification should include only the most critical performance requirements for the coating(s). Paramount are color, gloss, cleanliness and smoothness. Durability specifications should be tailored to the performance required by your ultimate customers and can include properties such as impact resistance, solvent/stain resistance, hardness and UV resistance.
By defining the exact coating performance required, a specification fulfills two essential objectives. First, it allows a coating supplier to qualify their powder coating(s) for use on your products, and second, it serves as an ongoing roadmap for every powder coating shipped to your facility. After a powder coating is qualified per your coating specification, you can require a supplier to complete a Certificate of Conformance for every batch of material shipped to you. This provides a traceable record that ensures the ongoing quality of the coatings applied to your products.
Finally, you need to consider the ultimate cost of the powders that meet your needs. Cost is not just price per pound, but how much coverage a pound of powder delivers. Therefore, it is essential to compare the specific gravity of candidate powder coatings – higher specific gravity equals less coverage per pound. So, focus on the cost per coverage instead of just the cost per pound. (See PCI’s Coatings Comparison Calculator at www.powdercoating.com under Resources.)
by Kevin Biller, technical editor of Powder Coated Tough and president of The Powder Coating Research Group
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