{"id":4863,"date":"2015-07-07T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/?p=4863"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:53:25","slug":"how-do-powder-coatings-compare-with-paint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/materials\/how-do-powder-coatings-compare-with-paint\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do Powder Coatings Compare with Paint?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"powderCoatings help improve the appearance, strength, and durability of metals used in the automotive, aerospace, medical device, construction, and electronics industries. Paint was once a coating of choice but powder coatings are now emerging as a useful coating material for metals and other materials. According to the Powder Coating Instuitute<\/a>, powder coatings represent more than 15% of the total industrial finishing market, and these materials offer significant improvements over liquid paint coatings including improved resistance to the effects of impact, moisture, chemicals, utraviolet light, and other extreme weather conditions.<\/p>\n

Powder coatings may be thermoplastics or thermoset polymers applied as freeflowing, dry powder. An article published in Products Finishing<\/a> compares the two:<\/p>\n

Thermoplastic powders melt and flow when heat is applied but they continue to have the same chemical composition once they cool and solidify. Thermosetting powder coatings also melt when exposed to heat, but they then chemically cross-link within themselves or with other reactive components. The cured coating has a different chemical structure than the basic resin. Thermosetting coatings are heat-stable and, unlike thermoplastic powders, will not soften back to the liquid phase when re-heated. Thermoset powders can also be applied by spray application to develop thinner films with better appearance than some thermoplastic powder coatings.<\/p>\n

Powder coatings can replace paint coatings on metal household appliances, lawn and garden tools and furniture, office furniture, and all kinds of vehicles and their parts. The main difference between a conventional liquid paint and a powder coating is that the powder coating does not require a solvent to keep the binder and filler parts in a liquid suspension form.<\/p>\n

Powder coating is typically applied by electrostatic spray deposition (ESD)\u00a0and then cured under heat.\u00a0 Several advantages of powder coatings over conventional liquid coatings are:<\/p>\n