The physical and chemical properties of aluminum profiles that adopt different surface treatments are different.
The surface treatment technologies of aluminum profiles have significantly changed and developed from previously single bronze materials to now new and continually updated processes such as anodizing, powder coating, PVDF, electrophoresis, thermal breaking, etc. There are various appearances of aluminum profiles’ colors such as titanium, golden yellow, champagne, faux stainless steel, and special effects such as mirror finish, sandstone, matte, luster. The physical and chemical properties of aluminum profiles that adopt different surface treatments are different.
1. Appearance:
Powder coating and PVDF offer diverse colors, while electrophoresis coating tends to be single color. From the aspect of appearance, the effects of electrophoresis and PVDF appear smoother than that of powder coating.Adopted electrophoresis, appearance maintains the natural stripes of aluminum profiles showing true beauty of aluminum which are completely covered after powder coating and PVDF.
2. Gloss:
Gloss of anodizing and PVDF products generally is within a low gloss range. From matte to high gloss, it can be chosen freely if powder coating is adopted, while high gloss often appears after electrophoresis.
3. Coating Adhesion:
For standard, requirements of adhesion are the same for powder coating, PVDF and electrophoresis coating. However, in practical applications and testing results, the effect of electrophoresis is the best, followed by PVDF, powder coating slightly behind.
4. Boiling Water Resistance:
Slight discoloration will appear if powder coating undergoes 2 hours in boiling water, while electrophoresis film shows minimal change even after 5 hours.
5. Hardness:
Hardness can be tested from two aspects: surface hardness and abrasion resistance. From surface hardness, anodized oxide film is the hardest, followed by PVDF. It is difficult to compare powder coating to electrophoresis film directly in terms of hardness, but in practice, powder coating is less prone to be scratched than electrophoresis film. From abrasion resistance, the corresponding order is anodized oxide film, electrophoresis, PVDF, and powder coating.
6. Alkali Resistance:
PVDF performs the best in alkali resistance, while anodized oxide film performs the worst. When suffering alkali corrosion, powder coating is more likely to discolor and lose gloss than electrophoresis film that substrate is easy to be corroded.
7. Acid Resistance and Salt-spray Resistance:
Considering standards, testing results, and practical usage, the order is PVDF, powder coating, electrophoresis film and anodized oxide film.
8. Solvent Resistance:
Electrophoresis film can not resist the corrosion of some solvents, while powder coating with certain resistance and PVDF with higher resistance.
9. Weather Resistance:
From the point of UV protection, electrophoresis film significantly performs better than powder coating. However, under normal environmental conditions, their weather resistance is almost the same. Compared with these coatings, PVDF has excellent weather resistance without doubt.
