What Are The Advantages of Powder Coating Over Paint?

Wet painting is a traditional method of finishing a product by spraying pigment from either a water or solvent based paint on to the outer surface. It’s a method that’s commonly used when spraying cars and for larger, heavier items. However, if you’re looking for a superior finish to your metal product then powder coating is a great alternative to wet painting.

Many of the common issues associated with traditonal wet painting are minimised or eliminated by powder coating. In fact, powder coating has many advantages over wet painting, so let’s take a closer look.

Performance

Powder coatings are more durable, and more resistant to chemicals, corrosion, and weather than their liquid counterparts. Surfaces which are powder coated also offer more resistance against scratching, chipping, and general wear and tear because of the thermal bonding process which takes place during curing. Unlike wet painting, powder coating doesn’t run or drip and vibrant colours tend to stay looking that way for longer too. As a result any item that is powder coated will have the best quality, attractive, durable finish that’s available.

Operational costs

Powder coating covers more surface area and is cheaper than most other organic finishes which equates to lower material costs compared to wet painting costs. Because powder coating can be easily automated, it can also reduce labour costs, since minimal training and supervision is required for a powder coating line. When compared to the processes involved in wet painting, operational cost savings when using powder coating will be noticeable in reduced energy costs, less waste produced, reduced disposal costs, and less work having to be redone, since there are fewer rejections with powder coating.

Safety

Wet paint is carcinogenic, flammable, and full of VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) which can be dangerous to plant/shop personnel if they’re not handled correctly. Powder coatings, on the other hand, normally consist of VOC free materials and don’t contain any solvents, which means there are no potentially harmful chemicals as there would be in a wet painting project.

Environmental

VOC’s found in wet painting is also one of the factors of industrial pollution concerns. Because powder coating is solvent free, and emits very little, if any VOC’s at all, it’s more friendly for the environment than wet painting.

What’s more, powder coating is a clean process since any overspray can be rescued and reused and unused powder can be returned to the hopper and recirculated through the system with minimal wastage. Most power coatings are also considered safe for landfills as they are non-hazardous materials.

If you’re interested to learn more about our powder coating service then please give us a call on 07 3204 1000 and speak to an expert. With a team of highly experienced, dedicated and hard working individuals, we can take on the world!