Why is pre-treatment necessary?

Powder coating needs to be applied to a clean, contaminated free surface. By pre-treatment all dirt, rust, oil and other is removed from the surface. Pre-treatment of a surface can be done by way of a chemical or mechanical method.

Chemical pre-treatment

This process consists of the metal being submerged into a large bath of phosphate and chromates. Through the different dipping stages, it both cleans and prepare the metal for powder coating. As this is a useful process, it is also a time consuming and more expensive process.

Mechanical pre-treatment

Better known as sandblasting or abrasive blasting. Blasting medias are used to prepare the surface for powder coating by blasting grit under high pressure against the metal to remove any dirt, rust, oil and other. This process saves time and is more cost effective.

At Gaborone Powder Coaters we use the method of sandblasting/abrasive blasting for pre-treatment of the materials to remove any surface contamination. By removing the surface contamination, it prepares the material for maximum adhesion between the material and the powder coating, making it a cost-effective process combining cleaning and finishing of the surface.