QUALICOAT Leading the Way in Architectural Coating Technology
Typical installation of architectural powder coating
The QUALICOAT Specification is unique and it can be confusing to understand exactly what it is? It is not a national standard, such as a British Standard or an ISO and it does not fall under any country or specification body. What it is, is a freely available global specification, updated in real time, produced by members of the QUALICOAT Association.
A Specification produced by QUALICOAT Members, who include powder coaters, pretreatment suppliers and powder manufacturers, may seem to suggest that the lowest specification is adopted by members, but that could not be further from the truth. With several Working Groups, made up of members from various countries, work is undertaken to review new technology and research ways to improve coating technology. As soon as new methodologies are proven, they are immediately added to the QUALICOAT Specification by way of update sheets and include implementation dates. At the end of each year published update sheets are incorporated into a new Specification. To ensure that the Specification is open to all specifiers, it is free to download the Specification and any update sheets from qualicoat.net.
Unlike many standards, a QUALICOAT Specification comes with third party accreditation. All Members of QUALICOAT, which include powder coaters, pretreatment suppliers and powder manufacturers agree to allow an independent test house, nominated by QUALICOAT, to undertake unannounced inspections of their plant and processes. The intention of these inspections is to ensure that the current Specification is being followed demonstrating compliance, the Member is then licensed to supply QUALICOAT approved products and coatings. Members who fail to demonstrate full compliance are reinspected and can lose their licence as a result of further non-compliance being reported.
One of the most recent developments within the Association is the launch of QUALICOAT 3.0. Part of a licence holders responsibility is the provision of regular coated samples for extended ‘acetic salt spray’ and in some cases ‘filiform corrosion’ testing at the appointed test house, in the case of QUALICOAT UK & Ireland, this is at IFO Netherlands BV. In a very small number of these test samples it was noticed that premature failure could occur following these very corrosive and accelerated tests. With the cause of the issue unknown, QUALICOAT set up a Working Group of Members to try to identify what was causing the issue and how this could be eliminated to further enhance powder coating durability.
It became obvious during research that the aluminium alloy itself was the contributing factor, so the Working Group began to develop a specification for the alloys used in fenestration, namely alloy 6060 and 6063. The resulting alloy specification, which now forms Appendix A13 of the QUALICOAT Specifications 2023, requires the alloys to fall within the EN573-3:2019 Standard, which can be met using primary or secondary (recycled) aluminium and requires the following three tests to be carried out, Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES), Anodic Cyclic Polarisation (ACP) and Metallographic Study for Aluminium.
All requirements of these tests need to be undertaken and passed by an independent test house before an approval is awarded. By ensuring that the alloy is of the correct standard, with reduced inclusions and improved grain consistency, it has been demonstrated by QUALICOAT that architectural powder coat finishes can be further enhanced for sustainability, especially when used with Class 2 powders (super-durable) and Class 3 powders (hyper-durable)
Appendix A13 of the QUALICOAT Specifications is now aimed at specifiers who have large facade projects and wish to take advantage of the additional protection that comes from a ‘QUALICOAT 3.0’ Specification. Whilst the current QUALICOAT supply chain includes powder manufacturers, pretreatment systems providers and architectural powder coaters, QUALICOAT 3.0 introduces for the first time the aluminium extruders into the QUALICOAT powder coating supply chain.
Specifiers who wish to take advantage of QUALICOAT 3.0 should in the first instance contact QUALICOAT UK & Ireland for guidance on specification and help in choosing the correct supply chain.
The current QUALICOAT Specification is freely available for download via the Association’s website, qualicoatuki.org and offers an up-to-date list of licensed UK and Ireland Powder Suppliers, Pretreatment Suppliers and Applicators. Telephone support is available from QUALICOAT UK & Ireland Head Office in Birmingham on 0330 236 2800, the Association can also be followed on Twitter @Qualicoatuki.