The powder or plastic coating process has prevailed only in the last 20 years. Basically, the powder coating is done with thermosetting plastic powder. The powder is applied electrostatically. This assumes that the workpiece is electrically conductive. The powder is also applied with a compressed air gun. Charged with 60 to 95 kilovolts, it attaches to the grounded work piece. Thereafter, the powder is melted in a heating chamber with temperatures of up to 200 degrees. Now the powder combines very reliably with the substrate. This goes so far that the color powder, which can consist of epoxy, polyester, polyurethane or acrylic, later can be removed only with great difficulty.
Wet painting takes more time and may even be more expensive than powder painting. But later removal or repair in case of damage is much easier. Therefore, bodies are still wet-painted. Any vehicle that has been restored so well must be reworked sooner or later, if you want to keep the vehicle permanently. The powder coating holds so well that later removal and cleaning is very difficult. You can find Top Powder Coating Blog here to get the services.
The powder coating of floor groups, tubular frames, chassis and other mechanically stressed parts brings clear advantages.
Body parts, such as fenders or parts made of plastic, are still wet-painted. The big advantage of powder coating is that the parts are extremely impact-resistant. Today there are powder coatings in all conceivable RAL colors. The subsequent processing such as grinding or drilling a powder-coated part is possible without the paint peeling off.
There are even more reasons to opt for the wet paint job. Components that remain only outdoors are completely exposed to the weather conditions. Heat that can warm the material to 60 to 70 ° C in summer, winter cold of minus 25 ° C, plus rain, snow and ice, leads to heavy material movements. The material works; it expands and contracts. That claims the powder coating, which is not so elastic that it can do it all for decades without any problems. The result is flaking or cracks.
If you need a specific color at short notice, the paint shops can do it faster with the spray gun than if you have to retrofit an entire powder coating line. The advantage of painting is above all in its flexibility.
A typical application for powder coating are rims. Rims do a lot in the course of their lives. They are at the mercy of curbs, ice, snow, salt and rockfalls. After a few years you can see their age. One way to extend shelf life and give them a complete makeover is powder coating. It provides a ‘new life’, a long shelf life. The powder-coated rim is also more robust than an uncoated one.
This is used to repair small quirks, dirt is removed and the surface slightly roughened. In a second step, the desired powder is applied by means of a spray gun. You can choose from all imaginable colors. For those who would like to have their rims coated in body color or prefer contrasts, powder coating is a good option.
