Powder coating is a great way to protect your steel and aluminum products while maintaining their design. It can enhance their durability and keep them looking attractive for longer, helping you create products that satisfy user needs for years to come.
Whether powder coated steel or aluminum is better for your product will depend on your application and the characteristics you need the item to possess. Steel offers certain advantages, like its exceptional strength, while aluminum provides different benefits, such as its light weight and corrosion resistance. Learn more about the benefits these metals can provide and how they can contribute to your products, especially when powder coated.
Quick Links
- Benefits of Powder Coated Steel
- Applications for Powder Coated Steel
- Benefits of Powder Coated Aluminum
- Applications for Powder Coated Aluminum
- What’s the Difference Between Powder Coated Steel vs. Aluminum?
What Is Powder Coating?
Powder coating involves fusing powder particles to your product’s surface using a specialized powder gun that emits electrostatic waves to help the powder stick. Then, the coating cures by baking in an oven. Powder coating creates a strong, durable and resilient finish that enables materials to withstand harsh weather conditions and years of rigorous use.
Durability and corrosion resistance are essential factors to consider when determining how to protect and coat your products. Powder coating is an ideal option when you need something to preserve your equipment and products during long periods outdoors. Powder coating can also help reduce your environmental impact while enabling you to provide high-quality care and protection for your products.
Why Powder Coat Your Products?
Powder coating surfaces can increase a material’s strength and reliability, allowing you to offer high-value products that your users can depend on. Products with a powder coat finish can help build loyalty with your brand by providing users better value for their investment.
Powder coating can also help you achieve the following:
Maintain Aesthetic
You have a specific look in mind when you design your products. Many customers will associate that design with your products or company, making it an essential aspect to execute correctly if you want to uphold your brand image and customer loyalty.
Powder coating allows you to protect your product without compromising its design. When coating with powder, you can choose from several colors and textures so you can consistently achieve the look you want. A powder coat finish delivers an even, clean and long-lasting aesthetic appeal that can improve customer satisfaction.
Reduce UV Damage and Fading
Paint and other protective coatings can fade after facing continual exposure to the sun, decreasing their quality. If you have outdoor equipment or products, you can protect them with powder coating.
A powder coat provides a protective layer that’s highly resistant to fading in addition to wear, corrosion and chipping. It can withstand prolonged exposure to the sun with minimal fading, helping you ensure your product’s protection, functionality and aesthetic.
Resist Weather
If you manufacture outdoor objects, you will want to ensure they can withstand rain, snow, ice, humidity and wind. Powder coating your products and equipment can help make them more resistant to various weather conditions.
A powder coat finish gives your product a protective layer that keeps moisture out, extending your product’s life and limiting exposure that could lead to corrosion and rust. Powder coating is less likely to chip than paint, protecting your outdoor equipment and making your products safer.
Decrease Air Pollution
The powder coating process is more environmentally friendly than paint since it uses no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). As such, powder coating promotes better air quality and safer working conditions since it’s free from powerful pollutants that hurt the planet.
If you have a high production volume or large parts, choosing to powder coat your products can help you better protect the environment and preserve air quality. As you take on more eco-friendly practices, you’re likely to see benefits in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty from those who prefer to support ecologically responsible manufacturers.
Reduce Waste
When you use powder coating on your products and equipment, you can help reduce your company’s waste. The powder coating process is quicker and simpler than finishing with paint, enabling you to reduce wasted time and resources.
You can reuse powder that doesn’t stick to your products for later use, creating a more environmentally friendly and circular coating process that produces less waste than other coating options. The cleanup process is also simple and quick, saving even more time and energy. Plus, powder bases have an extended life shelf that allows you to store them for future use and save on costs when you only use part of your coating inventory.
Decrease Maintenance
With stronger durability and higher resistance to corrosion, weather and fading, your powder coated products will require minimal maintenance throughout their life span. You can spend less time and money on product or equipment maintenance and redirect your resources to more profitable pursuits.
Powder coating provides thorough and lasting protection, so you can ensure your products will withstand the elements. Whether you create equipment that needs to navigate tough terrains and weather conditions or outdoor furniture that needs to withstand every season, you can trust powder coating to give your products a finish that lasts for years with minimal maintenance.
Benefits of Powder Coated Steel
Steel possesses exceptional strength, so when you choose this material, you can lower the chances that your products will dent or bend. However, despite steel’s density and robust characteristics, it can rust when exposed to moisture and air, decreasing its strength and causing it to break down. For that reason, some manufacturers turn to steel alternatives, like stainless steel, to mitigate corrosion risks. While alloys such as stainless steel can better resist corrosive processes like rusting, they can also be costly and inconvenient.
Manufacturers who want a cost-effective way to keep steel’s main benefits can choose to coat their steel with powder. The powder coating process results in a product surface that will protect steel from corrosion while maintaining its natural strength and durability. With a powder coating, you can ensure your products will be safe and protected outside from rust and other sources of corrosion while maintaining steel’s lower price and increased strength.
Applications for Powder Coated Steel
Steel is a versatile metal you can use in various projects and products. When you powder coat steel, you increase your application possibilities since the added protection allows you to use steel in more outdoor or moist settings. Some common applications for powder coated steel include:
- Outdoor furniture: Powder coated steel offers excellent weather protection, making it ideal for creating strong, anti-corrosive furniture frames. As you expand on steel’s strength with a powder coating, you can ensure that your product’s structure supports how your customers use their outdoor furniture.
- Construction equipment: Many construction companies choose powder coated equipment, such as trailers, cranes and platforms, to support building efforts. Construction sites have unique risks for employees, and powder coated steel equipment can reduce those risks and ensure the equipment is safe and strong enough to complete the project.
- Exterior building features: Many exterior building features, like windows, roof components and doors, benefit from powder coated steel. While steel can help lengthen their life span and ensure quality protection at a building’s entry points, the aesthetic flexibility of powder coated steel allows architects and designers to cater better to their desired style.
Benefits of Powder Coated Aluminum
Aluminum is a great lightweight metal, ideal for outdoor furniture or other home items that people often rearrange. Its light weight can also make shipping your products more affordable. However, since aluminum is a softer metal, it’s more prone to denting and bending. While aluminum is naturally rust-resistant, moisture can cause it to form a chalky texture on its surface that can take away from its aesthetic appeal.
When determining the best metal for your products, aluminum may be an ideal option, especially when you choose to powder coat it. Powder coated aluminum allows you to maintain its lightweight nature while adding extra protection. Coating your aluminum products will protect them from moisture and the elements, preventing the chalky texture of oxidation from forming on the surface. It can also enhance aluminum’s strength and durability to lessen the chances of denting and bending.
Applications for Powder Coated Aluminum
Powder coated aluminum is best for applications that need a lightweight yet durable material. When you powder coat aluminum, you can ensure your product is ready to last for years as it resists the weather and endures regular use. Powder coating aluminum will also yield high-grade aesthetics throughout an object’s life span, providing an elegant look even as it endures rigorous use or outdoor exposure.
Powder coated aluminum is ideal for products such as:
- Fencing
- Signage
- Railings
- Poles
- Roof extrusions
- Patio furniture
- Doorknobs
- Door and window frames
- Playground equipment
- Household appliances
What’s the Difference Between Powder Coated Steel vs. Aluminum?
Whether you should choose powder coated steel or aluminum for your product will depend on your application. If you need a sturdy material for outdoor equipment or exterior structural components, steel may be your best option. If you need a light, long-lasting material for outdoor furniture and features, aluminum is ideal.
Regardless of what your company manufactures, you can protect your product’s steel or aluminum and enhance its natural features with powder coating. Powder coating allows steel and aluminum to withstand extended exposure to the elements without rusting or fading, making both metals an excellent choice for outdoor products. Powder coating offers aesthetic flexibility that allows you to tailor products to your specific design needs.
Powder Coat Your Products With Keystone Koating
Powder coating steel and aluminum can help you enhance the metal’s natural properties while adding extra protection for better durability and a longer life span. Whether you need steel’s strength or aluminum’s lightness, you can trust a powder coated finish to provide the resilient, reliable coating you need to maximize your metal’s capabilities.
At Keystone Koating, we are experts in powder coating and will guide you through its process from start to finish. Our coating process is efficient and high-quality, so we can handle high-volume projects with a quick turnaround, allowing you to receive your finished product sooner.
Request a quote from Keystone Koating today and discover how we can protect your steel and aluminum products.
Updated November 29, 2023