I thought the technical congress was beneficial to attendees not only because of the quality of the presentations but because the balance and diversification was quite good. It seemed that all aspects of powder were included and this served to complement much of the round table discussions, which focused on the need for suppliers, manufacturers, and applicators to work together to advance powder technology.
Topics covered in the congress included global market studies; economics; pretreatments; powder coating on various substrates such as plastic, wood and metal; formulating; additives to control gloss, texture, leveling; pigment selection; metallic finishes; weather resistant powders, silicone resins, polyurethanes, acrylics and traditional polyester, epoxy and hybrid systems. New curing techniques are being discussed and pursued by many - in particular, UV and near infrared curing. Application techniques are also being explored and, particularly promising for potential can coaters, is electromagnetic brush technology.