Powder Coating Material Developments Promise New Opportunities For Finishers

摘要

Nearly four billion dollars of powder coating materials are applied worldwide each year in industrial operations. They represent 8 to 9 percent of industrial finishes, are employed in virtually every metal finishing market segment, and have begun to be used in a variety of plastic, wood, textile, and even paper applications. Global annual growth over the last two decades has ranged from 15 to 20 percent per year to the current 5 to 7 percent. Despite the rosy past, the future of powder coatings is often questioned. Is the technology mature? Can double-digit growth ever again be achieved? These questions, while valid, are largely driven by the current U.S. economic situation, which, in this writer's opinion, is a short-term situation and does not reflect a world view or the impact that technology advancement can have, especially if the advancements lower a finisher's total costs. One can argue that powder coatings' robust growth is due to the technology's offering the lowest-cost finishing alternative in a wide range of applications. The environmental friendliness of powder usage is a major contributor to the bottom line, but there are other reasons as well. Ease of automated application reclaimability, high throughput options, and reduced safety hazards with powder coatings all contribute to lower finishing costs. In fact, continued improvements in material chemistry simply expanded the audience available to take advantage of powder's inherently attractive economics.