52032

How to remove Powder Coating from extruded aluminum profile?

April 29, 2009

We Have a pretty good quantity of powder coated extruded aluminum Profiles (min. 5000 profiles,6 meters length, 1.6 mm thickness), send it to be melted is a very expensive solution for me.
My question is, what is the most easy and economical way to remove powder coating (polyester 85 micron) form the Aluminum..
I hope my query will be taken seriously ASAP.

Ayman Jamaldin
end user - Damascus, Syria

Nobody responding here is going to take your question lightly Ayman, but there isn't any magic dust when it comes to removing powder coating. All of the technology poured into it's development is in making it as resilient as possible, so you have that working against you. You can take powder coating off mechanically, chemically or with a burn off oven. A burn off oven will ruin the extrusion. All you have to do is pick the method that fits you're needs.

Sheldon Taylor    supply chain electronics Wake Forest, No. Carolina

There are several good strippers designed to remove various powder coatings from aluminum extrusions without damaging the parts.

You will have to identify the resin system in the powder (from the MSDS or spec sheet) and provide that information to a competent chemical supplier. Thickness and how well the powder is cured make a huge difference in how long it takes to strip.

In my experience it's cheaper to get the coating process under good control first. Then you have very few parts going to the strip tank. In many cases it reverses the math and it's actually cheaper to scrap them.

Jeff Watson - Pearland, TX