TCI Powder Coatings Blog

Pestered by Pinholes Problem: Pinholes have formed on the surface of the coating. What do you do? Origin/Cause: An incompatible powder is contaminating the coating.   Solution: Clean the application equipment when you are changing the powder from one powder to the next.   Second Origin: Out-gassing is producing pinholes. Luckily, there are many possible solutions to this problem.   Solution 1: Determine the metal porosity. Then, adjust processing to minimize the effects of the metal porosity.   Solution 2: Adjust the dry-off oven temperature to ensure no moisture is on the part.   Solution 3: Check the powder for moisture introduced in reclaim, from air supply, or from the virgin powder.   Solution 4: A thick film may be causing out-gassing. Reduce the film thickness so that the gas can escape through the surface during cure.   Solution 5: Urethane powder coatings may emit a blocking agent. Due to t...

Orange Peel Predicament Problem: The film displays too much orange peel (has a rough appearance).   Origin/Cause: The coatings could vary in their amount of orange peel properties.   Solution: Your best bet is to call or email TCI for information and recommendations.   Second Origin: The film thickness may be too thick or too thin.   Solution: Increase or decrease the film’s thickness according to information. For additional information on powder coatings, visit our website at tcipowder.com . Feel free to contact us today to have someone from our experienced team answer your powder coating questions or to see how we can help you with your powder coating needs.

Poor Hardness of Film Problem: The film has poor hardness, and you’re not sure why.   Origin/Cause: If a film has low hardness, it is usually because it is under-cured.   Solution: Modify the cure conditions by either increasing the temperature or dwell.   Second Origin: Systems are varied in their hardness.   Solution: Contact TCI for information and recommendations. For additional information on powder coatings, visit our website at tcipowder.com . Feel free to contact us today to have someone from our experienced team answer your powder coating questions or to see how we can help you with your powder coating needs.

Poor Corrosion Resistance Problem: You notice that the cured film has poor corrosion resistance.   Origin/Cause: This may be due to insufficient cleaning or pretreatment.   Solution: Assess the conditions and the chemicals of the cleaning, rinse, and pretreatment stations.   For additional information on powder coatings, visit our website at tcipowder.com . Feel free to contact us today to have someone from our experienced team answer your powder coating questions or to see how we can help you with your powder coating needs.

Low Flexibility and Impact Resistance   Problem: You notice that the coating has been showing low flexibility and little impact resistance.   Cause/Origin: It is possible that a change has been made to the substrate, but nothing has changed about the process.   Solution: Contact your suppliers to ensure no changes to the substrate have been made.   Second Origin: The film may be too thick.   Solution: Reduce the film thickness to the TCI specs.   Third Origin: Under-cured films have low flexibility.   Solution: Modify the cure conditions by increasing the temperature and/or dwell. For additional information on powder coatings, visit our website at tcipowder.com . Feel free to contact us today to have someone from our experienced team answer your powder coating questions or to see how we can help you with your powder coating needs.

Need help figuring out which powder coating will work for your job? Want to see a color really quick? Check out our  Color Selector  on the website! We have made some recent improvements to this feature to make it even better.  There is now a search box for if you know the product code or color name.  Just put in your requirements using the easy dropdown menus and get the answers you are looking for. We also have added more colors including the multi-colors.  You can even link straight to the products TDS next to each color. Ways to use the Color Selector: For help selecting which coating will work for your customer or job To see what a color looks like by typing in the name or product code in the search box See all the greens we have to offer in standard colors Of course, if you need help you can always reach your customer service or sales rep for more personalized product selection. We hope this feature will be of help to you and your bu...

Why Pretreat for Powder Coatings? Any given metallic surface has a layer of dirt, oil, mill scale, etc. that must be cleaned and removed prior to powder coating. A coating will not adhere well to a contaminated surface and will result in poor performance, thus making proper  pretreatment  necessary. There are a variety of methods that will clean and remove soils from metals. The pretreatment method used is determined by the part to be coated (size, configuration, material), the type of soil to be removed (dust, wax, oil, etc.), and the performance requirements of the finished product.  Click here to read more…   Pretreatment is the base for powder coating. The highest quality powder coating will show you excellent results  ONLY  if the pretreatment is done correctly, maximizing the benefits of powder coating. The results of improper pretreatment include appearance of oily patches, pin holes, rust patches, reduced resistance to weather, and o...

Need to evaluate powder coatings offered by different manufacturers? Some products may appear to   be identical but have different prices. Which is the better value, which should you buy, and which product best suits your particular need? The following is information on evaluating powder coatings to help answer the above questions. In order to evaluate powder coatings, you first need to determine the minimum thickness required to meet your needs. The basic requirement will be to determine at what thickness does the product you are evaluating hide the underlying surface.    The coating thickness of the same product may vary depending on the substrate needing coverage.  Using this method, it may be easy to compare products.  If one powder has a much higher specific gravity than another, but hides at about the same thickness, the price of the lower specific gravity product must be low enough to provide the same or better cost per square feet.  ...

Need to evaluate powder coatings offered by different manufacturers? Some products may appear to be identical but have different prices. Which is the better value, which should you buy, and which product best suits your particular need? The following is information on evaluating powder coatings to help answer the above questions.   Terms to understand for powder evaluation: Film thickness is the after-cure depth of the coating, usually expressed in mils (thousands of an inch).   The amount of protection needed and required appearance determine the film thickness needed.   Hiding is the ability of a coating to mask the color or pattern of the surface to which it is applied.   Therefore, the underlying surface should not show through the coating unless clear or translucent coatings are being used.   Coverage is the amount of surface area a specific amount of powder coating will spread at the required thickness. It is usually expressed in ft²/...

Why Pretreat for Powder Coatings? Any given metallic surface has a layer of dirt, oil, mill scale, etc. that must be cleaned and removed prior to powder coating. A coating will not adhere well to a contaminated surface and will result in poor performance, thus making proper  pretreatment  necessary. There are a variety of methods that will clean and remove soils from metals. The pretreatment method used is determined by the part to be coated (size, configuration, material), the type of soil to be removed (dust, wax, oil, etc.), and the performance requirements of the finished product. This process of pretreatment requires three steps:   1. CLEANING Mechanical Cleaning –  includes methods like scratch brushing and abrasive blasting. These methods remove surface debris such as rust or other types of residual contaminants and scale. This process of cleaning and roughening of part surfaces prior to coating is important and creates a stronger bond between the coating ...

Written by Rodger Talbert, Consultant Q:  Can brass can be powder coated successfully? Also, can you powder coat over rust, or  must it be removed or treated first? A:  Yes, you can powder coat over brass. However, its surface is soft and porous, and, therefore, hard to get completely clean. The best way to clean brass is with an ultrasonic system, where mechanical agitation helps work the soils out of the pores more effectively than typical spray systems. The material may outgas and create some pinholes if it is not perfectly clean. To help avoid outgassing, the coating should be cured at a temperature in the lower end of the cure curve.  Rust can be initially hidden by powder, but it is not a good idea. Rust under a coating will set up a low-pressure zone, and moisture can easily penetrate the coating and be absorbed by the rust. The additional moisture will cause more corrosion, the coating will swell, and it will break off the surface. Rust instead shoul...