Get To Know Your Powder-Coated Schönn Furniture
Schönn prides itself in offering furniture of the highest quality with the use of innovative technologies and trusted best practices that have been in use for over 4o years.
Schönn’s custom-made metal-framed furniture is finished off with matt powder-coating. Powder coating is a high-quality finish that has been used in the colouring and finishing of metal furniture and decór for over forty years. It is regarded as the very best way of applying colour, protection and durability to metal furniture.
What is Powder Coating
Powder coatings are based on polymer resin systems, combined with curatives, pigments, leveling agents, flow modifiers, and other additives. These ingredients are melt mixed, cooled, and ground into a uniform powder similar to baking flour. A process called electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) is typically used to achieve the application of the powder coating to a metal substrate.
This application method uses a spray gun, which applies an electrostatic charge to the powder particles, which are then attracted to the grounded part. After application of the powder coating, the parts enter a curing oven where, with the addition of heat, the coating chemically reacts to produce long molecular chains, resulting in high cross-link density. These molecular chains are very resistant to breakdown.
The result is a uniform, high quality, and attractive finish.
The Benefits Of Powder Coating
Powder coating is a high-quality finish that protects the roughest, toughest machinery, household items, furniture, and décor you depend on daily. It provides a more durable finish than liquid paints can offer, while still providing an attractive finish. Powder-coated products are more resistant to diminished coating quality as a result of impact, moisture, chemicals, ultraviolet light, and other extreme weather conditions.
In turn, this reduces the risk of scratches, chipping, abrasions, corrosion, fading, and other wear issues. It’s tough. It looks great. And it lasts a long, long time. In addition to being durable, powder coating is an attractive choice due to its environmentally friendly qualities. Liquid finishes contain solvents that have pollutants known as volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), while powder coating contains no solvents and release negligible amounts if any.
How Schönn Upholds Powder Coating Standards
Schönn strictly follows detailed documentation, standards, guarantees, and certificates of conformity for powder-coating.
These guidelines and standards would typically set out:
- What processes have to be in place to ensure a satisfactory paint finish
- What corrective measure should be taken to avoid defects in paint finish
- The required paint thickness (measured in microns),
- Test panels and other routine checks that need to be carried out.
What The Standards Say
The current British Standard and European Standard for powder coating is covered in BS EN 12206-1:2004, ‘Paints and varnishes – Coating of aluminum and aluminum alloys for architectural purposes’. This has replaced the earlier British Standard BS 6496:1984.
These Standards state:
Qualicoat:
The significant surface shall be defined by the customer and is the part of the total surface which is essential to the appearance and serviceability of the item. Edges, deep recesses, and secondary surfaces are not included in the significant surface. The organic coating on the significant surface shall not have any scratches through to the base metal. When the organic coating on the significant surface is viewed at an oblique angle of about 60° to the upper surface, none of the defects listed below shall be visible from a distance of 3 meters: excessive roughness, runs, blisters, inclusions, craters, dull spots, pinholes, pits, scratches or any other unacceptable flaws.
The organic coating shall be of even colour and gloss with good hiding power. When viewed on-site, these criteria shall be fulfilled as follows:
- for parts used outside: viewed at a distance of 5 m
- for parts used inside: viewed at a distance of 3 m
The Current Standard:
- When the coating on significant surfaces is illuminated and examined at an oblique angle with normal or corrected vision, no blister, craters, pinholes or scratches shall be visible from a distance of 3m (products for inside use) or 5m (products for outside use).
- The coating shall be free from defects extending down to the substrate.
Therefore defects in a powder-coated finish whilst rare to be glaringly obvious may be evident when the painted profile is viewed very close up and outside these guidelines.
Click here if you’d like to receive the full version of the Qualicoat Standard
Schönn promises only the highest quality powder-coating with strict adherence to quality standards.
Click here to shop Schönn’s range of high-quality powder-coated décor and furniture products.
