Until now, the most commonly used method to manufacture metal products with commercially hard coatings involved thermal ovens.

This is an expensive process. First you have the cost of the oven itself. Then you're faced with never-ending energy bills. (Have you added up what you shell out for energy every year?) Even worse, whether you're producing heat with gas or electricity, the cost you pay for either non-renewable resource will continue to rise. As will the pressure its production places on the environment.

Heat sinks - The high specific gravity of metal also contributes to your production costs. In order to dry the paint on the surface, all of the metal itself must be heated to the requisite temperature - the denser the mass, the more heat. Then that temperature must be maintained. Because metals behave as a heat sink, absorbing much of the heat energy the oven generates, you have to continue applying heat throughout the curing stage. And watching your energy bills mount up.

No more need for thermal ovens - With the advent of SpectraTechnology you have a unique, innovative and far more cost-efficient way to coat metal products. A way that offers polyurethane-tough finishes in any color you want. In a fraction of the curing time. And without adding any heat.

That's right. No heat. No thermal ovens. No crushing energy bills.

Instead of heat energy to cure paints, SpectraTechnology uses a catalyst. After surface preparation, the metal object is automatically coated with a specifically formulated 'paint' before moving into a recirculating (invisible) catalyst atmosphere at room temperature (⊇15°C). Here the wet coating absorbs molecules of catalyst and curing begins. The entire SpectraKoteª process takes just eight minutes from start to finish - no matter how high the specific gravity of the metal being coated and cured.

As you well know, eight minutes is less than a third of the time it takes for paint or stain to dry in a thermal oven. Combined with your cost savings from the heat energy you no longer need, you just became a whole lot more competitive. (For a more thorough description of what happens during the SpectraKote process, please check out the Basic Theory and The Process pages.)

Instant color switching - The SpectraKote process also offers an enormous competitive advantage for manufacturers of extruded aluminum products. Most adhere to a slight variation of the old Henry Ford pronouncement, "They can have any color they want, as long as it's black." In the case of powder coating, the ubiquitous color is white. And the reason is simple. It's just too tricky and time-consuming to keep flushing hoses and cleaning nozzles to switch colors with any regularity.

However, such is the nature of our process, you can flush and change colors in only a few minutes...with just the push of a button. Imagine how many designers, architects and builders you can please with this kind of flexibility.

More info - If you would like more information about how SpectraTechnology can help your operation run a lot more economically and flexibly, just click Contact Us to e-mail your questions.
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