Powder Coatings Developed For Wood Substrates

Chicago's Morton International (the salt company) introduced its Lamineer powder coatings for wood on Aug. 20 at Atlanta's International Woodworking Machinery & Furniture Supply Fair -- USA. Consisting of 100% solids, powder coatings release no solvents into the atmosphere. Morton's innovations with Lamineer fall into at least two categories: formulating a powder chemistry that can be electrostatically attracted to the substrate; and two, devising a formulation that will fuse at a temperature low enough to avoid overheating the substrate. (After electrostatic deposition of the powder, the coated parts are "cured" in an oven to fuse the particles to form a continuous coating.)