Heavy anti-corrosion field
Since 2010. my country's development speed in containers, shipbuilding, highways, railway projects, energy, petrochemicals, heavy machinery and water conservancy, thermal and wind power generation, and oil extraction has exceeded 10%. The application of heavy anti-corrosion coatings in these projects has exceeded 3 million tons, and my country has become the world's largest country in terms of production and use of heavy anti-corrosion coatings. In 2017. the total output of anti-corrosion coatings in my country will reach about 6 million tons, among which the development prospects of heavy anti-corrosion coatings are the most promising. In some heavy anti-corrosion coating application fields such as ships, bridges, and steel structures, solvent-based coatings are still the mainstream, accounting for more than 90% of wind power coatings. The demand for green coatings for onshore and offshore wind power is very urgent. It is difficult for water-based coatings to completely replace solvent-based coatings. Powder coatings are expected to occupy a larger market share under the trend of green coatings.
In 2016. my country's wind power industry continued to maintain rapid development. The installed capacity of wind turbines has reached 100.000 units, and it has increased by 10.000 units per year. The cumulative installed capacity has exceeded 1/3 of the world's wind power installed capacity. The rapid development of the wind power industry has brought new opportunities for the development of powder coatings. Powder coatings have been successfully applied to the inner and outer surfaces of electrical control cabinets (cabin cabinets, frequency conversion cabinets, tower base cabinets, etc.) of wind power equipment and electrical component brackets. In the future, the towers, hubs, pipe frames and other steel structures of wind power equipment that require heavy anti-corrosion and super weather-resistant coatings are suitable for heavy anti-corrosion powder coatings and super weather-resistant powder coatings. Specially designed self-layering powder coatings (fluorocarbon modified FBE technology, one-time curing to obtain the bottom layer FBE and the surface layer FEVE coating technology) and epoxy zinc-rich powder coatings can replace the current composite matching paint anti-corrosion system or solvent-based epoxy zinc-rich coatings.
Special functional application areas
Functional powder coatings include UV-curable powder coatings, antibacterial and mildew-proof powder coatings, electrical insulation powder coatings, high temperature resistant powder coatings, anti-graffiti powder coatings, artistic powder coatings, thermal transfer powder coatings, electrophoretic powder coatings, etc.
The volume resistivity of insulating powder is as high as 1015Ω·cm, and the water absorption rate is only 0.1%. In recent years, the coating technology of epoxy insulating powder for electrical engineering has been widely used in busbars, copper bars, circuit breakers, switch cabinets, insulators, bus ducts and busbar insulation in switch cabinets and other electrical components that need to withstand high voltage. For example, the busbars in the 12kV switch cabinet of a Japanese company, the 12~40.5kV switch cabinets of a Swiss company and a German company all use insulating powder. Insulating powder coating is also used in ZN63 high current circuit breakers internationally.
Conductive powder generally requires that the resistance of electrostatic conductive coatings is ≤109Ω·m, and the US military standard is <108Ω·m. At present, the surface resistance of conductive powder can be as low as 105Ω, so it has high conductivity and can be used in some anti-static fields, such as mine pipeline coating, oil tanks, hospital operating tables, computer rooms, etc.
High temperature resistant powder coating is mainly made of high temperature resistant resin, high temperature resistant pigment filler and special effect additives, which can meet different high temperature requirements (200~600℃). According to GB/T1735-1979 standard test, it can achieve high temperature performance without cracking and bubbling at 450℃ for a long time and 500℃ for a short time. It is mainly used in BBQ grills, heaters, gas appliances, high-power lighting, and high-temperature parts of mechanical equipment, such as exhaust pipes, automobile and motorcycle silencers, high-temperature furnaces, electrical insulation materials, petrochemical equipment, aircraft, missiles, aerospace equipment, etc., and can completely replace high-pollution and high-energy consumption products such as high-temperature solvent-based coatings and enamel. The automotive industry and transportation industry are the fastest growing application areas for heat-resistant coatings. It is estimated that the market size of heat-resistant coatings will reach US$4.24 billion by 2020. with a growth rate of more than 4.5% from 2015 to 2020. In the future, the development of new heat-resistant polymers will promote the technological progress of high-temperature powder coatings and expand their application in the high-temperature resistant market.
Non-metallic substrate coating field
Traditional powder coatings are usually limited to metal substrates and are difficult to be coated on non-metallic substrates, such as concrete substrates, plastics, glass, etc. Some alloys cannot be coated with powders, such as magnesium-aluminum alloys. In addition, some pre-assembled products (such as shock absorbers, motors, foam core doors, etc.) are equipped with heat-sensitive components such as electronic components, plastics, laminates, rubber seals, etc., which cannot withstand too high temperatures and cannot be powder coated. In the field of non-metallic substrates, powder coating technology is difficult to break through in the short term. However, it is gratifying that UV-curing powder coatings and low-temperature curing powder coatings make it possible to apply powder coatings to non-metallic substrates. The application of powder coatings on MDF has a good borrowing effect.
UV light-curing powder coatings that combine UV and powder coatings will have great development potential. After the UV curing powder coating technology reduces the curing temperature to below 120°C, it will not cause degassing or deformation of heat-sensitive substrates, thereby realizing powder coating of heat-sensitive materials such as wood, plastic, MDF boards, etc. In 1968. a company developed the first generation of UVCC wood coatings, which was the first UV curing powder coating application field successfully developed in Europe; some companies also reported the application of UV powder coatings on paper substrates. This powder coating technology is combined with printing (offset printing, flexographic printing, embossing, etc.) technology, which can be used for book and magazine covers, packaging box cardboard, cardboard, etc.; another paper-based application of UV curing powder coatings is wallpaper powder coating, which can obtain a more ideal decorative and functional (anti-pollution, scrub-resistant, etc.) coating.
On-site construction of super-large components
Some super-large components (such as large storage tanks, platforms, decks, etc.) and interior and exterior wall coatings or large concrete components of non-metallic substrates can only choose liquid coatings suitable for on-site and normal temperature construction.
However, the development of coating equipment in the future may enable powder coating construction in the above fields. For example, high infrared heating technology, flame spraying technology or the application of UV curing powder coating may enable powder coating of large components, because flame spraying and UV curing do not need to heat the entire component.
Application of high-precision materials
High-precision materials such as graphene and nanomaterials are difficult to be well dispersed in traditional powder melt extrusion manufacturing processes, so these excellent materials are difficult to bring qualitative changes to powder coatings in terms of performance.
