Where the
world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


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Phosphate free pretreatment before Liquid (Alkyd amino system) painting

Q. We are doing zinc phosphate coating before doing liquid painting (alkyd-amino based).
We would like to know whether there is any development so that we can avoid phosphate coating with some other conversion coating because phosphate is a hazardous material.

DEEP MATHPAL
Deputy Manager - Rudrapur, Uttranchal, India
2007

A. On what grounds or in what context is phosphate hazardous, Deep?

opinion! The world is literally drowning under the waste of poorly painted metal goods like patio furniture, lawn equipment, and outdoor goods that are rusting away in 2 or 3 years years or less, when it would last a dozen to twenty years (and more) if properly phosphatized and painted. All this wasteful and unsustainable mining, transporting of ore, smelting, transporting of raw metal, fabricating, painting, packaging, shipping, selling, and landfilling every two or three years instead of every 12+ because too small a proportion of finishers do proper phosphatizing pretreatment -- and those who do so and who are the responsibly acting people working towards sustainability are under pressure to stop?!

Pollute the world with tons of rusted steel every two to three years to save a few ounces of phosphate every 12 to 20? Please stop the madness!!

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007