PalmSHIELD’s Powder Coating Standards
PalmSHIELD meets and exceeds the following standards for applying their factory finish to aluminum fence panels, posts and gates to receive a polyester powder coating. PalmSHIELD strives to offer the most pristine product for their customers and in doing so they provide a complete resource for their powder coating factory finish standards, process, and product.
PalmSHIELD’s powder coating process and standards are based on a three-step process.
Step 1. Removal of oil, dirt, lubrication greases, metal oxides, welding scale etc. is essential prior to the powder coating process. PalmSHIELD utilizes both phosphates spray application and sweep blasting the surface. The use of a phosphate spray consist of degreasing, etching, de-smutting, various rinses and the final phosphating of the substrate The pre-treatment process both cleans and improves bonding of the powder to the metal. Blast media and blasting abrasives are used to provide surface texturing and preparation, etching, finishing, and degreasing.
Step 2. Applying the powder. The most common way of applying the powder coating to metal objects is to spray the powder using an electrostatic gun. The gun imparts a negative charge to 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.
Step 3. Curing the powder. When a thermosetting powder is exposed to elevated temperature, it begins to melt, flows out, and then chemically reacts to form a higher molecular weight polymer in a network-like structure.