| TECHNOLOGY |
The company's Impress line of powders can be sprayed into a polyester-fiberglass mold. As heat applied to the mold cures the polyester-fiberglass composite, it also melts and bonds the powder coating to the plastic. The technique has been successfully used to produce jet skis. Typical powder bake temperatures are 325 to 350 F, industry sources say. To save energy, and particularly to allow powders to coat more heat-sensitive wood and plastic substrates, powder makers have put a lot of work into developing powders that can melt in the range of 180 to 200 F and either cure at that temperature or cure on exposure to a radiation source for a highly durable finish. Irfab's Busato says many of these low-temperature cure powders must be refrigerated under low-humidity conditions to prevent clumping of the powders
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