Back to school – teach yourself about powder coatings for educational institutions

Posted by on 6 September 2017

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that powder coatings are an excellent, tough and durable coating option for schools and educational institutions. From the ABCs to PhDs, there are so many applications for high performance powders in inspirational colors; check out just a few of them below.

Exterior protection and durability

Schools are proud of their students and their achievements and should be proud of their buildings and how they look, year after year. High performance Fluoropolymer powder coatings will provide long lasting protection and durability to exterior components such as exterior façade and windows. IFS 500FP, the popular high performance Fluoropolymer from IFS Coatings, will meet and exceed the performance requirements of the AAMA 2605 coatings specification and comes with a 20 year warranty when applied to architectural aluminum by a certified applicator. Used on curtain wall and exterior facades from the inspirational skyscraper at 111 57^th in Manhattan, to 9^th and Lenora in the technology district in Seattle, it delivers a high quality, tough finish with world class exterior weathering protection. Find out more about IFS 500FP or contact us to request a brochure and color card.

Making an environmentally responsible coating choice for our students and our future

“I’m always surprised when I talk to design professionals that aren’t aware of the 3^rd party proven environmental benefits IFS architectural powder coatings provide,” comments Kreg Gardner, VP of Business Development at IFS, as he flips through the Environmental Product Declarations that IFS achieved for each of their architectural coatings products. “I guess I’m so used to the fact that high performance coatings have zero VOCs, contain no toxic compounds, don’t require chrome based pretreatment or primer and don’t create any toxic waste either in manufacture of application, that it just seems like the sensible, environmentally responsible decision to me! We’re spreading the word though, and fast. More and more design professionals are choosing powder so they can remove coatings that come with these less than pleasant side effects and choose environmentally responsible powders that offer the same or better performance and warranties but without the impact or the environment or people. It’s a no brainer really!”

Interior decoration and protection

Exterior durability is important, especially in terms of weathering protection and ensuring color retention or corrosion resistance, but interior coatings need to work hard, often in slightly different ways. Though they may not be subjected to such harsh exterior climatic conditions, they are often subjected to feet, hands, backpacks, keys…the list goes on! There are many great powders available that will offer additional protection against this type of every day wear and tear without compromising on the cool colors that might inspire us to learn. As well as awesome scratch and mar resistance (see furniture example below) interior powder coatings can also have anti-microbial protection added to them. These clever coatings use silver ions to help inhibit the growth of microbes on the powder coated surface.

Whether it’s gym equipment, tables and chairs, lighting or handrails, interior grade powder coatings are designed to deliver impact and look great!

Furniture - scratch and mar

As you know, powder coatings come in many different product types and chemistries. The IFS products that are used on school furniture have been specially designed to have additional scratch and mar properties.  ArtcoBell manufactures colorful, hardworking furniture that is often used in schools, and relies on IFS powder coatings to deliver exceptional scratch and mar resistance to its products. Check out this short 14 second video of powder coated chair legs being smashed against a concrete post. It speaks for itself.

 

This amazing scratch and mar resistance can be built into powders for many other uses - ask for details.

There are just too many types of powders suited to educational establishments to go into here – we haven’t even mentioned Anti-Graffiti powder coatings or IFS primers that deliver an additional layer of protection to the substrate! The fact is, powders are used on so many different applications including doors, windows, façade, railings, fencing, furniture, lighting, sports and playground equipment and lockers. Check with your supplier that their coating is a hard working powder coating, and write it into the spec to ensure the students and buildings benefit from the ultimate in protection.