Incorporating Effect Pigments into Powder Coatings

Because of their composition and shape, effect pigments cannot be incorporated into powder coatings in the same way as other pigments. The mechanical stress applied to the powder coating components during premixing and extrusion, particularly in the mill, would almost destroy the platelet-shaped effect pigments. Therefore, they must be added to the powder coating later. For this process, there are two established methods. During the dry-blend process, effect pigments and the powder coating are mixed as gently as possible in a simple and inexpensive mixture. The bonding process, on the other hand, is characterized by the fact that the effect pigments are thermally bonded to the powder coating particles. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages, which are shown in Table 1.