Ceramic Coating vs. Powder Coating vs. Ceramic Powder Coating?

A. There is probably more than one way to do what you are talking about. Porcelain is one, but has some limitations. The one that I am familiar with is thermal spray (or flame spray, plasma spray, high energy plasma, D gun, J gun or gator gun, etc. You might want to start a search under "thermal spray" or "flame spray". You might also start with Metco, one of the larger vendors. I am sure that they have a web site.

A. If you're already doing powder coatings, you might be interested in "electrostatic enamel powder" like Ferro's PERC powder. The total costs are lower than flame spray. Regards,

A. You may like to contact Almag France Sarl, who are developing an ultra hard ceramic surface for aluminium.

A. We do ceramic coating of automotive exhausts as well as many other parts. It is becoming widely used in automotive applications because of its durability and it's ability to reduce transferred heat. There are several companies that manufacture such products but we prefer to use TechLine Coatings.

A. Hello gentlemen, We have a simple application of a ceramic based coating that you can apply to almost any substrate, with the proper surface preparation. We are currently modifying applications for the oil and gas industry. We have been working with steam injected into oil through 1500 metre long carbon steel pipes. The product we have is not a brittle ceramic coating, it stays pliable yet works up to 2000 °F. Always remember it must be used for RADIANT heat applications!

A. Look up a company called Techline Coatings. They make a product called BHK or a black satin coating for exhaust systems. It can withstand up to 2000 °F.

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A. Hi there,

You need to have your exhaust ceramic coated. Smoother exhaust flow, slight horsepower increase, Aluminum color or Black, rust proof, permanent, reasonably priced (twins under $200.00). I would have the job done professionally. It is actually a dip I believe.

A. Yes, as stated above a high temp ceramic coating is what is required. These coatings, applied professionally, can withstand temperatures up to 2,000 degrees.

A. There is at least one paint on the market for houses that claims to be a ceramic. I think that it is just a ceramic filled paint that goes on in a very thick coat. Your description almost makes it a thermal spray process. For a true ceramic coating it would require a high energy system. There are a few companies that do this on a job shop basis, but not many.

A. I believe the process is called plasma spraying, if you want to search another term.

A. To my knowledge, there are two types of "ceramic" coatings. One with organic binder (paint or powder) and the other is thermal spray. I have seen ceramic powder coat applied to exhaust pipes for trucks. If that is what you are looking for, contact powder coating manufacturers like Tiger Drylac or Velspar and find more about their application.

A. There are inorganic powder coatings available. It is a vitreous enamel. It's used as a coating in the appliance industry. It can be applied to a cleaned only or acid etched steel surface (zero carbon preferable). It's cured at somewhere between 1450 to 1580 °F.

A. If the finish you are talking about refers to exhaust coatings, there is a liquid ceramic/metallic coating available. Application is with a HVLP gun and then partially cured at 500 °F. Rest of the cure takes place on the automobile. There used to be a company (Ceramic Coating Corporation) that glass lined pressure vessels (large ones that store and mix orange juice.) I believe they just preheated the part to an extremely high temperature and applied the product by placing it a cheese cloth type bag and sprinkling the stuff on as the part turned. They did parts for Enerfab. The electrostatic process that Tiger Drylac has is, I believe, for High temperature applications but not a ceramic. It's a silicone based powder. Be careful, thickness greatly influences its capabilities. I hope this helps.

A. Hi, Cam. The phrase "Powder coating" today usually implies "plastic powder coating". It means to cover an object with a plastic powder which is subsequently heated enough (to something like 500 °F) to flow and fuse into a coating. True ceramic coating would mean to cover an object with a ceramic frit which is subsequently heated enough (to something like 1200+ °F) to flow and fuse.

So the difference is that "true" ceramic coating is more like coating an object with molten glass or molten ceramic than melted plastic. There is a difference in temperature resistance.

Technology is very wide ranging, with all different kinds of "half-way" coatings possible, and unfortunately the world is full of salespeople who, in an effort to sell their product and make it sound better than it is, deliberately obfuscate and mislead. In this case one way they may do it is to throw a little ceramic dust into a conventional plastic powder coating and then call it a "ceramic coating". The ceramic dust doesn't melt or fuse in this case, it just sits there as a grit in the paint, like sand paint, and may contribute a little something or maybe nothing at all :-(

The best way to look at it may be that the phrase "ceramic coating" has thus been diluted to not mean much, and you must investigate to understand exactly what the particular coating really is. Porcelain coating (vitreous enameling) as used on stove grates is probably the premium finish. In this case several coats of binders followed by several coats of porcelain (melted glass frit) are painted onto the service, with high temperature curing to melt the glass powder. Good luck.

Regards,

A. In the auto paint industry we use a 2k protective clear coat that has been added a Matting agent to protect Matte based coatings that need extra protection.. I have also used Normal 2k clear coat and after it has completely cured used fine sanding paper to kill the gloss and make it Matte again.

A. Hi Peter. I think so.

Regards,

A. Hi Doru.

Please remember that pretreatment is as important, and usually more important, than selection of the finish. If you want your paint to hold up to salty road spray the surface should be zinc phosphatized before painting. Then engine paint should prove sufficient.

If zinc phosphatizing isn't possible, then sand blasting followed by "rust converter ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] " should precede the painting.

Although some readers may have more experience in this topic than you or I, it's just a public forum where readers help other readers; there are no experts waiting in the wings to undertake personalized consulting assignments while charging nothing -- so please don't consider any suggestions as professional advice :-)

Luck and Regards,

A. Hi again Doru. Zinc phosphatizing is for steel. The best pretreatment for aluminum is chromate conversion coating.

Regards,