What Industrial Coating is Right for Your Project?

Industrial coating is what protects the look and ensures the longevity of your products. Unfortunately, different kinds of coatings have different properties, and not all or even most of them will be suitable for all products. That’s why it’s so important to carefully consider your options and identify the one ideally suited to what you want to accomplish. Keep these factors in mind as you evaluate different choices:

Color

It’s important to consider your color options if you want your product to look appealing, or to have a specific color to meet a specific protocol. There are some coatings which provide a nicer finish yet less protection, and others that do the reverse.

First and foremost, find out what colors are available and if you have the option to customize those colors. Then consider how the color will react when applied to the product at hand, and how the color will age as the product gets used.

Protection

As we have noted, some industrial coatings are purely cosmetic while others work like a suit of armor. If you are planning on coating a product that will undergo a lot of abuse, get exposed to the elements, or suffer through harsh temperatures, you will need an industrial coating that can stand up to the extremes.

The manufacture should be able to provide you with specs outlining a coating’s capabilities. Compare those with your needs, and be sure to consider spikes up or down. It may be necessary to accept poor capabilities in one category in order to take advantage of stellar capabilities in another.

Longevity

Ideally, you will have to coat and re-coat your products as infrequently as

possible. The coating process can be time and labor intensive, and during its duration the thing you are coating will be out of commission. Coating that quickly wears off also leave the items it’s meant to protect vulnerable to damage and destruction.

Once again, the manufacturer should be able to give you a lifespan for the coating under both regular and extreme conditions. Be sure to also inquire about warning signs that a coating is beginning to fail. Some are less apparent than others.

Application

Typically, the easier it is to apply an industrial coating the less expensive it will be. You will also have more options for industrial coating companies to work with and get your fully-coated product back faster. But speed and cost are not always your primary considerations.

There are some industrial coating products that you can apply yourself much like paint, but their application is limited. Others, like powder coating, provide superior protection, have broad applications, and fit into most project budgets. Lastly, there are specialty coatings that may cost more and take longer to apply but offer unique advantages for products that need to perform in a very specific way.

Any product that needs an industrial coating needs the right industrial coating. Otherwise, it will only cost you time, money, and hassle while potentially putting your projects and personnel at risk. The best strategy is to work with coating experts who can help you select the right type of coating and then handle the application process themselves.