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Powdercoating

I am wanting to paint Aluminum shelving for a tradeshow booth. I am curious as to how powdercoat works and what sort of equipment and space I need. What kind of finish does it produce? And where do I buy supplies and equipment?

Faith Schexnayder
- Austin, Texas
2002

Although there are variations, briefly, the powder manufacturer supplies the applicator with drums of finely-divided powdered thermoplastic. The applicator sprays this onto the item to be coated with an electrostatic spray gun so that the powder electrostatically adheres. Then the part goes into an oven where the powder melts and fuses onto the part.

The principal advantage is that very very little, if any, solvent is released. In a few rare applications powder cannot give quite as fine a finish as liquid paint, but for display work like this it should be fine. You need proper pretreatment before powder coating, just as you do with liquid paint.

From a sufficient distance, a powder coating line looks very similar to a solvent-based paint line.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2002

Hi Ted,

Just a quick note to say that most powder coatings are Thermosetting. Although thermoplastics are used in various applications such as play ground furniture and park benches and can be applied in the same way, by far the most common is thermosetting.

Regards,

Drew Devlin
- North Lincolnshire
2002

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Thanks Drew. I'm sure you are absolutely right. Thermoplastic has a specific meaning and I should not have sloppily used the word as a substitute for 'meltable plastic'.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2002

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2002

You may want to try a jobshop powder coater in your area if this is a one-time or occasional need. If you look in the Job Shop Directory included at this web site you should be able to find some local applicators.

Kenneth Spielman
Chicago, Illinois

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There are five major types of powder and they are TGIC Polyester, Hybrid (epoxy polyester system), Aromatic urethane, Aliphatic urethane and Epoxy. Each of these powders has different performance characteristic. For example, epoxy has excellent hardness but poor exterior durability, Epoxy-Polyester hybrid system has good chemical resistance and good heat stability but poor exterior durability, TGIC system has very good exterior durability and heat resistance and so on.

Ahmed Fouad Serag Eldin
Ein Shams - Cairo - Egypt
2005