Summary for powder coating zincanneal Discussion
Powder coating zincanneal without an oven was the core question, because Suzanne Galea needed a hard-wearing finish but her housing contains plastic parts that would melt in normal bake curing. She had heard of a two-part process involving a chemical that heats the metal before powder is applied, and asked if such a method exists. Drew Devlin said he had not heard of that specific process, but pointed her to newer low-temperature powder coating technologies. In particular, he explained that UV-curable powder coatings can be used: the workpiece is only heated to about 100°C, enough to melt and flow the powder, and then UV initiators in the coating complete the cure. He noted this is the lowest-temperature powder coating option he knew of and is already used in factories facing similar heat-sensitive-part problems.
Q. I am currently searching for a technique in which to apply a type of hard wearing powdercoat type finish to zincanneal. I can not use an oven to bake on paint to my product as the housing contains plastic components that would melt, I have been told that there is some type of product available that is a two part process were as you apply a chemical to the metal to heat up then apply powder.
Hope you can help.
Thank you,
Suzanne Galea
– Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2001
A. Suzanne,
I have not heard of the method that you describe. However, there are new technologies in powder coating that may be of interest to you.
Powder coatings can now be cured by UV radiation. This means that you would only have to heat up you workpieces to 100 deg C. This temperature is only to melt the powder and let it start flowing, when this happens the UV initiators within the powder cause the powder to cure. This system is the lowest temperature powder coating available and is already being used in factories with similar problems to you.
Hope this helps.
Drew Devlin
– Lincolnshire, UK
2001