The global coatings industry is striving to provide more - environment protection, corrosion resistance, weather durability, gloss and shine…. all in just a single coat.
By Debarati Das
We know that the main purpose of coatings is that of beautification and protection- but that’s just the leading edge. Industrial coatings industry constantly has to keep up with new materials getting incorporated in various industries, evolving applications of existing materials, ever changing environmental laws, and much much more.
In short, a coating which was perfectly suitable last year can be redundant today because a certain industry switched from metal to plastic. The coatings manufacturers have to constantly innovate to keep it attuned to the changes in the industry. Industrial coatings have to be versatile enough to perform on complex substrates and be robust enough for surfaces made of multiple mixed metals, plastics and other materials.
Although the growth of this market has had several drivers, currently the industry dynamics is majorly being driven by the environmental concerns. The coatings industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries today. Most countries are constantly changing their environmental norms for a safer and better environment. While the US and Europe observe stringent environmental norms, emerging markets like China and India are also weaving its policies and norms to guard the rising environmental concerns. Coatings industry too is changing to make its products environment friendly. There is an increasing demand for low-solvent and solventless technologies with low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs).
New coating technologies are constantly entering the market and the user industry has a plethora of choices for new coating technologies including waterborne (thermosetting emulsion, colloidal dispersion, water-soluble) coatings, high-solids coatings, two-component systems, powder coatings, UV curable, radiation-curable coatings etc. These coatings reportedly have good growth prospects in the future.
Furthermore, the coatings industry is one of the large consumers of solvents, which are mostly derived from petrochemical feedstocks and refinery operations, the industry is also bending towards bio-based coatings to minimize the dependence on petrochemicals.
“From corrosion and fire protection to scratch resistance, aesthetic purposes or improved appearance, the tasks in industrial coatings are increasing. In paint application, we see a high demand for automation. In many industries, nearly all processes are already automated. Painting is often still a manual process,” said Alexander Carls, manager product management, (application technology/industrial products), Durr Systems AG. “We also see the trend for ease-of-use solutions together with robustness. Both factors are often crucial for customers decide on a product, as well experienced technicians to maintain and setup coating products/processes are rare and therefore expensive,” he added.
Read more: One coat – multiple functionalities
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