Feature of power coating and powder spray system 2008

Focus on the development of low temperature cure coating in terms of saving energy cost

Total service including paint and equipment is key word for the promotion

Total sales of thermosetting powder coating in 2007 was estimated 32,500-33,000 tons, it grew 8-10% against last year. Until the end of 2007, the market had been running well based on positive effect by industrial machinery for export such as metal furniture, machine tool. Home electric appliance and switchboard for architectural use positively grew as well.

However, in 2008, the economy turned down and market situation became critical. Therefore, end users pursue severe cost management, require more saving of energy, resource and manpower and seek for efficient process. The following is the proposal by paint and equipment suppliers to meet the market requirement.

According to active economy boom, last year sales of electrostatic spray gun for powder coating was 2,530 units, went up 30.3%. It was record high. Equipment investment was positive, gun producers operated at full capacity.
However, after new fiscal year starts domestic economy entered a recession phase due to soaring crude oil prices and US economic decline caused by subprime loan crisis, therefore, equipment market faced serious situation. Equipment supplier said, "Until early May we have pending orders, but after mid of June we could not forecast the outlook of the market clearly." The rethink and postpone of equipment investment plan at end users bore out that comment.

Powder coating market had been well till the springtime, but it declined after that. Even export business, very good last year, have dropped, therefore, the business recovery during demand season (October to March) is not expected because customer purchasing power is already down.

In recent years, the prices of raw materials have been raised due to high crude oil price. Paint producers have been negotiating the price adjustment but on the other hand end users strongly requiring suppliers cost reduction. In addition, customers have other objectives such as VOC Measures and Carbon Dioxide Reduction. They are also seeking for further improvement of the productivity. Saving of energy, resource and manpower and efficient process are highly required.

In order to meet these needs, paint producers are developing low temperature cure coatings. The curing temperature of current polyurethane powder coatings is normally 180C / 20min. It is difficult to reduce the temperature because the blocking agent should be released. Furthermore, fume issue is existing, so players focus on the development of PU powder coating involving the use of Hydroxyl Alkyl Amide (Primid crosslinker)
Although curable temperature depending suppliers, "150-160C / 20min" product is already commercialized and "140C / 20min" product is being developed. Some customers are buying the product as the performance is same as current product.
The development of low temperature cure is active in the market of Epoxy Polyester Hybrid or Epoxy powder coating as well. Hybrid powder coating that is cured at 140-150C is commercialized. 110-120C curable epoxy coating is already developed.

This development makes more applicable condition, consequently the spray to thick steel plate became possible in addition to thin steel plate. And it allows the combined usage with far infrared ray heater and hot air circulating oven, as a result, enables to save energy, space and improve productivity. Particularly, current oven based on circulating hot air have not been modified for several decades, therefore, lots of dry system using far infrared ray heater or induction heater will be proposed in the future.

For reduction of used coating or total cost, paint producers usually recommend customers to apply thin film coating. New equipment with soft spray technology is prepared at low flow rate. The improvement and development of pump enables powder coating to flow with small quantity of air. It prevents the rebound of paint and improves the coating efficiency.

In terms of saving resources, paint producers developed powder paint with electrostatic charge control in order to improve recovery and coating efficiency and new spray system using color change booth and gun with soft spray technology enables quick recovery and color change. But, color change has an influence on productivity, it is evaluated on case-by-case basis.

Regarding the demand of high-mix low-volume production and multicolor requirement, paint producers try to apply standard color and utilize Computer Color Matching (CCM) in small lot tinting process. New tinting system of powder coating by CCM is already launched. That is based on dot design concept belong to color copy technology. However, key end users try to apply water borne paint to multicolor use.
Since last year many equipment producers have launched new spray gun or system. It aims at user-friendliness and suppliers focus on product development to meet operator feedback.

Last year, sales of automatic spray gun was 1,775 units and manual gun was 755 units. Especially the sales of automatic gun went up 58.8% against previous year, it means the demand for equipment investment was very strong.
Market share of suppliers is estimated, NORDSON:24.8%, NIHON PARKERIZING:22.1%, RANSBURG INDUSTRIAL FINISHING:18.8%, ASAHI SANAC:17.9%, HOSOKAWA WAGNER (includes WAGNER SPRAYTECH JAPAN):14.5% and ANEST IWATA:1.9%. In this year, each player cannot foresee the outlook for economy clearly, therefore, takes cautious steps to maintain the share.