Powder application equipment for automotive-body finishing: Technological challenges
In response to ever-increasing environmental pressures, North American automotive assembly plants are replacing traditional liquid paint processes used to finish vehicles bodies with powder coating processes wherever feasible.
As a result, a potentially large and highly visible market for powder application equipment and powder coatings is emerging. For this market potential to be realized fully, however, suppliers of application equipment and powder materials must meet a number of technological challenges. This article defines the nature of the challenges facing application equipment suppliers and describes the equipment technologies that must become available to vehicle assembly plants for powder coating to penetrate this market fully.