POWDER COATINGS TECHNOLOGY - NEW DEVELOPMENTS AT THE TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY

The growth of the powder coating business is affected by the toxicolog ical effects of the raw materials used in the coating formulation and the saturation of the present market for powder coatings, being limite d to general metal applications only. This has a strong influence on t he long-term research programmes at both raw materials suppliers and p owder paint producers. in the last decade of the 20th century, we witn ess appearance of several new types of toxicologically-safe powder coa ting systems on the commercial scale. At the same time, there is stron g evidence of efforts to penetrate new market fields where powder coat ings are not typically used. This includes the markets for automotive clear top coatings, can and coil coatings, coatings for industrial woo d, plastics and paper. The new developments in the chemistry of powder coatings are followed by changes and improvements in the production t echnology for powder coatings as well as developments of new applicati on techniques. This paper summarises the research work on chemistry, p roduction and application technology of powder coatings and tries to e xtrapolate the tendencies in the years to come in order to predict the achievements and the impacts on the paint industry. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.