Powder coating method has quite a number advantages for architectural applications. One of the hot trend of powder coating in architecture is low-emitting products and sustainable buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) are the two most important certification programs, gaining importance for all who are interested in creating a better, “greener” built environment. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is dedicated to promoting “green buildings,” which are constructed, designed, and operated to boost environmental, economic, and healthy productivity performance over conventional buildings. This attempt is spearheaded by the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.
The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) promotes the use of low-emitting materials and products to progress public health and quality of life by creating improved indoor air quality (IAQ). The GREENGUARD qualifications Program set up sovereign standards and tests for products and materials. Manufacturers willingly present products and materials for testing and get ratings from architects and designers to have access to resources that are “green.”
Architectural powder coatings are factory applied, high quality and durable in nature. Such coatings designed specifically keeping architectural applications in mind. Appropriate for use on architectural aluminum and steel for both exterior and interior applications, it offers good chemical resistance, excellent durability and mechanical performance and it is a true sustainable alternative to liquid PVDF & anodized finishes.
Powder coating involves a sequence of pretreatment processes; this includes alkaline cleaner or iron phosphate solution and medium blasting followed by a clean water wash. Powder coating gives an anti corrosion conversion coat to steel parts as well as it helps the powder stick better. The steel parts are usually placed on a heave, ran through a stove (oven), thus absorb heat to get dried out quickly. The dried steel parts are then coated electro statically. The steel parts (after optimum thickness is gained) are put into a stove (oven) to get cured at 400oC temperature. The curing process depends on the density and thickness of the parts. Once curing is done, the parts are taken out from the stove (oven) to get cooled off.
