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The
UV powder coating system can finish parts up to 97 inches
long and 60 inches wide in thickness from 0.375 inch to more
than 2 inches.
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During the
1970s, 3M designed and created a vacuum-form machine to apply reflective
vinyl film to road signs as a means to protect them from weather
and debris. Maynard Snow, a Kalamazoo, MI, entrepreneur, purchased
one of the machines and modified it to apply decorative vinyl film
on furniture components.
Thirty years
later, the company he founded, Decorative Veneer, is recognized
throughout the U.S. as a premier supplier of quality decorative
veneer panels and components to manufacturers of display fixtures
and office, home and health care furniture.
While most
companies would be satisfied with one such success story, Decorative
Veneer is betting that lightning can strike twice. Only this time,
the company’s president, Michael Knoblauch, is working with
leading industry material and equipment suppliers to adopt UV powder
coating technology as an alternative to vinyl film.
Though the
demand for powder coating has nearly tripled during the past decade,
increasing from 140 to 350 million lb/yr, until recently, applications
on wood substrates, such as Decorative Veneer’s medium-density
fiberboard (MDF) materials, have been virtually nonexistent. However,
with the development of low temperature and UV-cured powder coatings,
the timing from Decorative Veneer’s perspective is ideal.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Throughout the past three decades, Decorative Veneer has developed
an expansive but defined product line around the process of vacuum-forming
vinyl on MDF to make finished components that become part of a furniture
system for office, health care, consumer electronics and home furniture.
“The vinyl process is a viable process for these market applications,”
said Mr. Knoblauch. “We can three-dimensionally finish a part,
incorporating design elements that cannot be achieved in different
processes. We can achieve radius corners, edges and recesses with
a homogeneous finish and essentially no seams. Whereas a high-pressure
laminate finish cannot accomplish these results, we’re able
to form the vinyl over the substrate.”
However, as
the barrier to entry into the market has decreased in recent years,
Decorative Veneer found itself facing an onslaught of new competitors.
“After 30 years, we began looking for new ways to grow the
business, preferably in an environment that is process manufacturing
versus batch manufacturing oriented. Following a lengthy investigation,
the process we believe has the greatest potential for us is UV powder
coating, partly because it allows us to use our existing customers
or distribution channels, but also because the powder, application
and curing systems have already proven themselves in other substrate
finishing applications,” stated Mr. Knoblauch.
Powder Coating on Wood Trends
Ongoing research and development of lower temperature, UV-curable
powder coating materials demonstrates the viability and tangible
features and benefits of this market. The result is steady
growth of powder on wood applications.
According
to a recent report by The Freedonia Group, demand for powder
coatings in the U.S. alone is forecast to increase to 505
million lb in 2005 (from 140 million lb in 1990), due in great
part to “suppliers rapidly expanding the functional range
of powders into wood and plastics, which is opening new applications
for these coatings.”
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Powder
on wood results in an attractive, durable finish that
can outperform traditional wet and laminate finishes
and greatly increases product design flexibility.
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Mike
Stuhldreher, market development manager at DuPont, supports
the industry assessment and projections. “We’re
very bullish about the prospects of UV powder on wood, to
the point that we are focusing exclusively on UV powders for
the MDF and wood markets at the expense of thermoset,”
says Mr. Stuhldreher. “Ultimately, we believe the fundamental
benefits of UV powder—lower temperatures, faster line
speeds and thinner film thicknesses—are the three major
reasons why UV technology will be the way the industry goes.”
In fact, DuPont considers the MDF and HDF markets to be only
the beginning of where UV powder will lead.
Floyd
Roberts, UV marketing manager of Govesan, agrees, “Every
day we’re developing and testing new resin products that
make it possible for finishers like Decorative Veneer to apply
a complete palette of colors and achieve a wide range of finishes
on both engineered and solid wood as well as other heat-sensitive
substrates.”
As with
applications on metal, the powder used in the wood process
is a mixture of finely ground particles of pigment and resin
that are sprayed onto a vertical or horizontal surface. The
powder particles are then heated in an infrared/ultraviolet
(IR/UV) oven that permanently fuses them to the surface, creating
a finish that is both durable and attractive. New applications
include office furniture, retail display systems and a wide
range of home and office cabinetry.
Mike
Riley, powder systems specialist at Nordson, says that powder
suppliers deserve a great deal of the credit for pushing powder
chemistry to new extremes. “Lower curing temperatures
have made UV powder coatings suitable for heat-sensitive substrates
like MDF, which only several years ago would have been impossible.
As a result, an entire new segment of the industry is now
growing and expanding.”
Steve
Couzens, wood industry specialist with H.B. Fuller, says that
it is now possible to meet a wide range of specifications
with UV powder. “We’ve already produced 10 standard
UV colors for Decorative Veneer,” states Mr. Couzens.
“If the company gets a request for a black or tan 20-gloss
texture, it’s available right now. Beyond these standard
colors, we’re also able to match particular colors or
patterns from a part that was previously coated with a high
pressure laminate, vinyl or even liquid.”
Regarding
the growth potential of UV powder on wood, Mr. Couzens is
very optimistic. “The amount of MDF used in the U.S.
today is astronomical,” says Mr. Couzens. “In fact,
if only 25% makes its way into powder within the next five
years it will be sufficient to justify the amount of research
dollars that the industry at large has put into the development
of the technology.”
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The Operation
The company began calling on its customers in September 2000 to
introduce them to the powder on wood concept, demonstrate how the
application works and describe the benefits of the new product.
“Based on test results obtained at Nordson’s powder coating
testing facilities, we were able to show finished product samples
to our customers,” explained Mr. Knoblauch. “Without exception,
they were absolutely positive about the potential of UV powder on
wood.”
Wasting no
time, Decorative Veneer broke ground in October 2000 for a powder
coating operation at its Plainwell, MI, facility. Powder coating
equipment from Nordson
Corp. and UV/IR ovens from Nutro Corp. were shipped in February
2001; testing in the new 40,000-ft2 facility began in March and
April, 2001.
The operation is situated in a 10,000-ft2, temperature-controlled
powder coating room that currently houses a single powder coating
booth and several hoppers to handle quick color changes. The room
is designed to eventually accept a second booth that will accommodate
even more and faster color-change requirements.
The Application System
The UV powder coating system can finish parts up to 97 inches long,
60 inches wide and 0.375 inch to more than 2 inches thick. Parts
are manually hung on an overhead conveyor that travels only a short
distance at 7.5-15 ft/min before entering a single, low-temperature
(75-200F) convection oven that preheats the MDF.
Following the
preheat process, parts pass through an Excel 2000® powder coating
booth equipped with opposing racks of seven Versa-Spray® II
guns on reciprocators. A single Sure Coat® manual spray gun
is also available at the front and back end of the booth to reach
deep recesses. Coating thickness ranges from 1.8-3.5 mils. The booth
also features a Sure Coat® application controller and several
hoppers to accommodate quick color changes.
Coated parts
then pass through a second IR/convection oven to gel the powder
and through a UV oven to cure the powder. Once finished, the parts
are inspected, packed and shipped to customers.
Becoming an Industry Technology Leader
“We can now produce the same type of component with some of
the inherent qualities of what we’re able to produce on our
vinyl and in some cases improve on it,” proclaimed Mr. Knoblauch.
“And we can produce them in a process-manufacturing environment;
that’s the logic behind the purchase of the powder system.
With the UV powder system, Decorative Veneer has also positioned
itself on the front end of the marketing curve—having something
that no one else has yet in an environment that has a pretty high
barrier to entry. If you don’t have the distribution to fill
the capacity, we see that as a barrier to entry. We believe we can
fill up the distribution channel fairly quickly.”
Benefits/Advantages
UV powder coating on MDF offers numerous benefits, including: availability
of a broad palette of colors, textures and glosses; thinner finish
thickness (2-3 mils vs. 8-10 mils); use of standard MDF; nondestructive
low-temperature preheating and flow coating; faster cycle times;
and an environmentally friendly process (no VOCs or HAPs).
“DV’s
powder coating and UV-curing process eliminates costly and time-consuming
priming and prepping. Unlike common systems, premium grade MDF is
not required, nor are high-temperature preheats and flow coats that
can damage the substrate,” stated Mr. Knoblauch. “The
result is an attractive, durable finish that outperforms traditional
wet and laminate finish processes and greatly increases product
design flexibility. The process will revolutionize the wood finishing
industry.”
