Operating a Processing and Manufacturing Facility

Protect your stuff from rust and corrosion

9 May 2017 by Todd West

Many metal surfaces need to be protected from corrosion and rust. The door to your fridge, wheel rims of your car, your gate and many other items made of metal will need a fresh protective coat from time to time. Sometimes a fresh coat is needed just for beauty. In either case, you have the option of having them wet painted or powder coated.

Metal powder coating

Metal powder coating has gained a lot of popularity because of its many advantages over wet painting. It involves applying the metal powder, often by spraying, to a metal surface. Powder coating involves three major steps;

Pre treatment

The surface to be coated is first cleaned and prepared so that the coat will be able to bond properly with the surface. Here, any grease, dirt, rust and deposit that has formed on the surface is scrubbed and cleaned off. The surface is then dried before the powder can be applied.

Application

This is where the powder is applied. This can be by spraying or a fluidized method. The powder is attracted to the surface being coated by electrostatic forces as it is of an opposite charge to the surface. This makes the powder spread uniformly and stick to the surface.

Curing

Here the painted surface is put in ideal conditions, it can be a curing oven where the powder is allowed to spread evenly and bond with the surface. After the curing, the surface can now be allowed to cool and put to its use.

Why choose metal powder coating?

Powder coating is usually done by professionals. There are many benefits of using metal powder coating on metal surfaces, they include;

Durable

Powder coated surfaces will retain their luster for a long time. Also, powder coated surfaces are more resistant to temperature changes because the coating is bonded to the surface rather than a film that can be removed. It is also more resistant to scratches and chipping.

Safe

With most wet paints, there are some chemicals and characteristics that demand careful handling. Metal powders like aluminum powder paints are made of dormant chemicals that will not easily react with most things. Another important point to note is that metal powder coating is also less of a pollutant compared to wet paint.

Cost effective

With powder paints, you are able to paint a larger area as there are tools that make it easy. This saves a lot of time hence reduced labor costs. The end result of a powder coating job is also of a very high quality and it will last longer before you need a repainting to be done. This means there are lower costs in the long run as well.

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