Powder Coatings
December 2014 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 29
investment. The new technology can be tailored to meet exact
color and performance requirements, resulting in a wide range
of end-use products, including thick and heavy mass metal parts
that meet the most demanding OEM specifications for protection and appearance.
One of Sherwin-Williams’ newest offerings is Powdura
Sprint, a low-cure polyester resin-based powder coating system
for use on medium density fiberboard (MDF). It’s used for finishing applications in the furniture, kitchen cabinet and general
finishing markets and provides a high quality finish as it cures at
temperatures as low as 250˚F. “We’re also seeing more activity
on polyester powder being used for composites like fiberglass
pultrusions for exterior building products,” said McMahon.
“We also recently introduced Powdura OneCure, a two
coating, one cure dry-on-dry system designed to save finish-
ers time and money by reducing the steps needed to achieve
enhanced edge coverage and corrosion resistance,” McMahon
added. “This coating is designed for use in heavy equipment
and general metal finishing applications. Its primers and top-
coats have the ability to co-react and cross-link, providing a
seamless finish that delivers high quality aesthetics with su-
perb durability. It offers a high performance alternative to con-
ventional two-bake powder primer and topcoat systems and
allows finishers to reduce energy use, labor and maintenance
costs while increasing throughput.”
Valspar delivered two technology achievements in 2014
for the powder coating market: Valspar Valde Edge Coverage
Powder (ECP) coating and Valspar Valde Extreme Flex Cure
(EFC) coating. Valspar Valde ECP coating is a two-coat, one-cure
technology for industrial equipment that provides best-in-class
edge coverage protection from corrosion and rust, addressing
a common problem for industrial equipment manufacturers.
Valde ECP delivers a smooth, superior-looking finish and is the
lowest cost option available on the market today that can de-
liver this performance. From a production standpoint, manu-
facturers can reduce two steps in the powder coating process by
applying the primer coat and the topcoat; then oven curing in
just one step rather than the traditional method of applying the
primer; then oven curing followed by the topcoat application
and a second oven cure.
Valspar Valde EFC coating doesn’t require compromises between durability, finish cure temperature and cure rate. Valspar
Valde EFC delivers a smooth finish, high gloss and super durable
performance at a lower cure temperature and faster cure rate than
standard powders. Manufacturers can decide just how much time
and energy they want to save, adjusting the oven heat settings and
cure times to meet their specific manufacturing needs.
These new technology platforms not only deliver new value to
the marketplace and new solutions for customer needs, but also
open up new markets where powder coatings can be used. CW
Axalta Presents Advances in Powder Coatings for Corrosion Protection and Visual Appeal
Chemists Christopher Lopez and Reena Reddy from Axalta
Coating Systems recently presented their work on powder coatings at FABTECH 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. Lopez’s talk showcased the use of Axalta’s fusion bonded epoxy (FBE) powder
coatings that are designed to help protect metal pipelines for
transporting oil, gas or water. Reddy’s presentation focused on
Axalta’s powder coatings that have metallic visual effects for exterior and interior applications.
FBE powder coatings are widely used to help protect pipeline structures from corrosion, given that they are formulated to
offer enhanced physical and chemical stability, resistance to soil
stress, adhesion to metal, and resistance to abrasion and corrosion mitigation.
“Properties of the FBE are affected by selection of epoxy resin
and other components, such as curing agents, pigments and additives,” explained Lopez. “When we develop our FBE coatings,
we consider not only the coating properties that we desire, such
as corrosion protection, flexibility, impact resistance and chemical resistance, but also the application process that our customers
use to apply the coatings. In addition, we also provide a variety
of powder coating systems such as single layer systems and dual
layer systems to help meet our customers’ needs,” Lopez added.
The durability and stability of powder coatings can help to
maintain the structural integrity of the underlying metal that they
are designed to protect. However, when special effect metallic
pigments, such as aluminum, gold, bronze or copper are used
in powder coatings, the “visual appeal” is sometimes the cus-
tomer’s key property. Reddy and her team identified factors that
influence the optical properties of the metallic pigments in pow-
der coatings.
“Solid color powder coating overspray can often be recov-
ered and returned to the coating system to help allow custom-
ers to achieve nearly 100 percent use of powder coating materi-
als. There is a process called bonding in metallic effect coatings
where the pigments are fused to the powder particles to help al-
low for excellent reclamation,” explained Reddy. “When proper
effect pigments are selected, we can have a durable coating fin-
ish with an appealing anodized metallic visual appearance using
only a single layer of powder coating. The layer is formulated to
provide good protection and an aesthetic benefit that helps to
reduce material use and coating costs for our customers.”
“Axalta powder coatings are offered to be used in many
industrial applications for aesthetics and protection purposes,
including architectural, pipeline and automotive,” said Dr. Fred
Allen, Axalta’s global technology idector of Powder Coatings.
“We are committed to working closely with our customers to
understand their needs and to continue to develop products
and coating processes to help meet those needs, whether a
customer needs a coating with exceptional corrosion or impact
resistance, or a coating with visual pizzazz.”
