US Powder Coating
4423 Dudley Blvd., McClellan, CA 95652 Telephone (916) 565-
Copyright ©2010, West Coast Marketing Partners.
The most common way of applying the powder coating to metal objects is to spray the powder using an electrostatic gun, or Corona gun. The gun imparts a positive electric charge on the powder, which is then sprayed towards the grounded object by mechanical or compressed air spraying and then accelerated toward the workpiece by the powerful electrostatic charge. There are a wide variety of spray nozzles available for use in electrostatic coating. the type of nozzle used will depend on the shape of the workpiece to be painted and the consistency of the paint. The object is then heated, and the powder melts into a uniform film, and is then cooled to form a hard coating. It is also common to heat the metal first and spray the powder onto the hot substrate. Preheating can help to achieve a more uniform finish but can also create other problems, such as runs caused by excess powder. See the article "Fusion Bonded Epoxy Coatings"
Another type of gun is called a Tribo gun, which charges the powder by (triboelectric) friction. In this case, the powder picks up a positive charge while rubbing along the wall of a Teflon tube inside the barrel of the gun. These charged powder particles then adhere to the grounded substrate. Using a Tribo gun requires a different formulation of powder than the more common Corona guns. Tribo guns are not subject to some of the problems associated with Corona guns, however, such as back ionization and the Faraday Cage Effect.
Powder can also be applied using specifically adapted electrostatic discs.
Another method of applying powder coating, called the Fluidized Bed method, is by
heating the substrate and then dipping it into an aerated, powder-
Electrostatic Fluidized Bed Coating: Electrostatic fluidized bed application uses the same fluidizing technique and the conventional fluidized bed dip process but with much less powder depth in the bed. An electrostatic charging media is placed inside the bed so that the powder material becomes charged as the fluidizing air lifts it up. Charged particles of powder move upward and form a cloud of charged powder above the fluid bed. When a grounded part is passed through the charged cloud the particles will be attracted to its surface. The parts are not preheated as they are for the conventional fluidized bed dip process.
Electrostatic magnetic Brush (EMB) Coating: an innovative coating method for flat
materials that applies powder coating with roller technique, enabling relative high
speeds and a very accurate layer thickness between 5 and 100 micrometre. The base
for this process is conventional copier technology . Currently in use in some high-