Aluminum is used in product design in various industries because of its easy processing, good visual effects, and various surface finishing methods. Different surface treatments make the products a specific charm. The surface treatment process on aluminum extrusion products is simply divided into powder coating and anodizing. Let’s take a look at the beautiful appearance brought by these processes.
What is the powder coating? And how it looks like on aluminum extrusions?
Powder coating is to use powder spraying equipment (electrostatic spraying machine) to spray powder coating on the surface of aluminum products. Under the action of static electricity, the powder will be evenly absorbed on the surface of the aluminum parts to form a coating; the powder coating passes through High-temperature baking, leveling, and curing, becomes the final coating film. The aluminium powder coating has strong adhesion, tight coating, strong impact resistance, good toughness, high corner coverage, and also has good chemical resistance and electrical insulation properties, and is rich in colors and diverse lines. This kind of coating has different colors according to product needs, such as red, orange, yellow, and green, etc.
In addition to a single color, wood grain color is another common surface for powder coating. After the aluminum product is electrostatically sprayed, the wood grain is transferred to the surface of the workpiece using thermal transfer. The wood grain is vivid and just like a real wood finish. This appearance is widely used in aluminum frames of doors and windows, aluminum deckings, household appliances, etc.
What is anodizing? And how it looks like on aluminum extrusions?
Aluminum and its alloys form an oxide film on the aluminum product (anode) due to the action of the applied current under the corresponding electrolyte and specific process conditions. Anodizing can not only solve the defects of aluminum surface hardness and wear resistance, but also prolong the service life of aluminum and enhance its aesthetics. It has become an indispensable part of aluminum surface treatment and is currently the most widely used process.
Aluminum extrusion slot frames usually are coated by silver anodizing or black anodizing. Equipment frames, racks and display racks made of this aluminum profile can be seen everywhere.
In addition to regular anodizing, other extra processes can be added to enrich its surface, such as sandblasting, polishing, and brushing to make the anodized surface more decorative.
Sandblasting is powered by compressed air to form a high-speed jet beam to spray the blasting material (copper ore, quartz sand, emery, iron sand, sea sand) on the surface of the workpiece to be treated at a high speed. Sandblasting has a wide application in engineering and surface technology, such as: increasing the viscosity of bonding parts, decontamination, optimizing surface burrs after machining, and surface matt finish.
The polishing process is mainly divided into mechanical polishing and chemical polishing to achieve a mirror effect.
Brushing is the process of repeatedly scraping aluminum surfaces out of lines with sandpaper. This process can clearly show every tiny line.
These beautiful finishes can be produced in FONNOV ALUMINIUM. CLICK FONNOV to find the best finishing for your aluminum project