Powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing, dry powder. Unlike conventional liquid paint which is delivered via an evaporating solvent, powder coating is typically applied electrostatically and then cured under heat or with ultraviolet light. The powder may be a thermoplastic or a thermoset polymer. It is usually used to create a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint. Powder coating is mainly used for coating of metals, such as household appliances, aluminium extrusions, drum hardware, automobiles, and bicycle frames. Advancements in powder coating technology like UV curable powder coatings allow for other materials such as plastics, composites, carbon fiber, and MDF (medium-density fibreboard) to be powder coated due to the minimum heat and oven dwell time required to process these components. Powder coatings contain no solvents and release little or no amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC) into the atmosphere. Thus, there is no need for finishers to buy costly pollution control equipment. Companies can comply more easily and economically with environmental regulations, such as those issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Powder coatings can produce much thicker coatings than conventional liquid coatings without running or sagging. Powder coated items generally have fewer appearance differences than liquid coated items between horizontally coated surfaces and vertically coated surfaces. A wide range of speciality effects are easily accomplished using powder coatings that would be impossible to achieve with other coating processes. Curing time is significantly faster with powder coatings compared to liquid coatings especially when using ultraviolet cured powder Coatings or advanced low bake thermosetting powders.
The automatic powder coating machine has several spraying methods, such as 1. Electrostatic spraying method: it is the most commonly used spraying method for powder automatic spraying equipment, mainly through the electrostatic field to make the electrostatic powder coating evenly fall on the surface of the workpiece to be sprayed, A uniform coating is then formed by leveling in a curing oven; 2. Electrostatic fluidized bed spraying method: The electrostatic fluidized bed spraying method is mainly by adding high-voltage electrodes to the interval of the porous plate at the bottom of the powder automatic spraying equipment and the container. Thus, a high-voltage electric field is formed between the piezo electrode and the workpiece, and the uniformity and adhesion of the coating thickness of the powder coating are greatly improved; 3. Electrostatic oscillating powder coating method: The electrostatic oscillating powder coating method used in powder coatng machine mainly converts the high-voltage point of direct current into a high-voltage electrostatic field, so that its periodic change produces electric field oscillation. And under the action of this oscillating electrostatic field, the powder coating will float.
