To assure your equipment receives the finish it needs when contracting a finishing supplier, you need to understand the types of finishes available. The following are different paint finishing techniques and the different benefits each offers.
Paint
Paint is a very common application that applies a hard coating to protect or decorate metal equipment or products.
Powder Coating
Powder coating applies powder to metal electrostatically. Once applied it is cured under heat where it flows and forms a hard, uniform finish. This finish will improve impact resistance and durability. Additionally, this process offers a wide range of color and texture, as well as being environmentally-friendly.
Anodizing
An anodizing finish is an electrolytic passivation that provides a choice of three types, Type I, Type II, and Type III, which use different acids to create the anodize coating to increase surface hardness. The process increases the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of aluminum parts. Adonizing offers the advantages of higher corrosion and wear resistance, better paint and primers adhesion, the prevention of galling of threaded components.
Electroless Nickel Plating
Electroless nickel plating involves the application of one or multiple layers of a metal to a substrate without current. An auto-catalytic process, it improves corrosion and oxidation resistance, plus higher wear resistance.
Black Oxide
The black oxide process causes a coating on iron to change the surface of the material to a naturally occurring black iron oxide to change the appearance to black. Black oxide finishing supports the dimensional integrity of close tolerance parts with limited corrosion resistance.