Powder Coatings
transportation costs. It’s definitely a
challenging time, but powder is a
green coating technology and will
continue to find its way into new
applications and new markets.”
POWDER COATING
TRENDS & CHALLENGES
The demand for environmentally
friendly, low VOC coating solutions
will undoubtedly fuel the growth of
powder coatings, especially in
Europe where the legislation is particularly intense, but also in the
Middle East and Asia Pacific where
green sustainable architecture practices are rapidly growing, according
to Iurilli. “Today we see that architects are giving environmental considerations a more decisive weight in
AUSTRALIA’S PREMIER SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
On April 17, Dulux Powder Coatings took out the 2008 Premier’s
Sustainability Award for Products and Services in Melbourne,
Australia. The award, presented by Victorian Premier John Brumby,
recognizes the partnership between CSIRO, Dulux Powder Coatings and
Sustainability Victoria to develop “Zero Waste Powder Coatings.” This is
the leading Victorian award for sustainability.
The entry was based on the development of a new powder coating technology suitable for plastics and other heat
sensitive substrates, and is the result
of several years work by Dulux Powder
Coatings and CSIRO.
This partnership resulted in the development of technology that will generate
minimal waste, minimize the release of
harmful chemicals to the environment and
help to deliver significant savings in cost,
electricity and greenhouse gas emissions.
The new powder coating system has
been successfully trialled in the Australian
State of Victoria, and is now being customized for coating automotive plastics.
The dry coating was also the award
winner in the Eco Innovation category
at the recent Banksia Awards 2008 in
Melbourne.
At the event project leader, CSIRO’s Voytek Gutowski, said the aim of the
research was to overcome a long-term sustainability issue for the automotive, plastics and furniture industries by replacing wet paint finishes on heat-sensitive substances, such as plastic components, with zero-waste powder coating technology.
“The problem the team had to solve was that most powder coating particles
only stick to surfaces that conduct electricity and the plastics used to make
automotive components are not conductive,” Gutowski said.
“We overcame this by coating the plastic components with a nanometer-thin layer of specialty multi-functional molecules, while, for its part,
Dulux Powder Coatings developed new-generation powder coatings that
can be cured at much lower temperatures and for much shorter times
than traditional powders,” he continued.
Siew Fong Cheong, HSS powder
coatings technical specialist and
Bill Matthews, powder coatings
technical manager, with the
Premier’s Sustainability Award.
the material selection process,” he
said. “Issues such as indoor environmental quality, control of VOC emissions and the amount of energy dissipated during the material’s manufacturing are becoming as critical as the
product performance.
“In terms of challenges, from one
side raw material price hikes are
affecting profitability. From the other
side, the sharp competition among
the powder coating manufacturers to
gain market share in existing and
new markets is eroding the selling
prices,” Iurilli continued. “Jotun does
not enter into price wars in any market; we rather focus on quality and
on long-term relationships with customers, although we are noticing
that even loyalty is being affected.
This type of situation usually stimulates the introduction of high value
new products to make a difference
and divert the attention of the buyer
from price to value.”
For Dietz cost increases are the
biggest challenge. “They are hard to
pass on because there is extra
capacity for powder producers,” he
said. “The key for the industry as a
whole is to develop powder for heat
sensitive substrates and other new
applications where one would not
immediately think of powder. The
major challenge today is passing
along cost increases and finding
ways to grow the industry during
economic softness.”
GROWTH MARKETS
The architectural aluminum market
is growing exponentially in the
Middle East and Asia, due to the
unprecedented increase in major construction projects in the residential,
commercial and monumental markets, said Iurilli. “We also see an
increased demand in wood look-alike
finishes for applications such as
kitchen cabinets, windows and
doors,” he said. “There is also
increased demand for powder for
