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This Month's Focus:
Pretreatment & Stripping
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Progress in non-chromate powder coatings for corrosion protection
The development of non-chromate technologies for powder coatings has been at the forefront of the industry because of the carcinogenic and toxic nature of chromates. In this regard, powder coatings based on nanomaterials, conducting polymers, nontoxic conversion coatings, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation curable powder coatings are some of the new developments on which researchers have focused their attention. This article describes, in detail, the impact that adhesion and corrosion protection parameters have on non-chromate powder coatings and how these new and changing technologies are shaping the industry as it moves forward.
Coater's Corner: Abrasive blasting – not your typical pretreatment
The abrasive blasting process provides one of the best surfaces to apply coating to, and when done correctly, will result in a long-lasting corrosion resistant finish. In this article, I will provide a basic understanding of the blasting process, provide test data that illustrates the effectiveness of abrasive blasting when used as the pretreatment component of the coating system, and address special considerations when using abrasive blasting.
General Features
Nick’s Niche: Defining an appropriate QA/QC plan
The funny thing about quality is everyone has a different opinion of what determines a quality product. Quality is kind of like beauty — where one's opinion of beauty can greatly differ from the next person, so can opinions widely differ on quality. Additionally, quality can often be sacrificed to make a delivery timeline or meet production deadlines, meaning quality can also be a moving target. This can make developing a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) plan for a finishing process more art than science.
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