6th Annual Powder Coating Forum 2024 - report

The Annual Powder Coating Forum 2024 took place from 15 - 16 May once again in Wels, Upper Austria, and dealt with current topics such as the PFAS Regulation, optimizing energy efficiency in powder coating systems and digitalization in powder coating. The event was hosted by the Viennese conference and seminar provider IMH, with Dr. Thomas Herrmann, founder and Managing Director of the Center for Corrosion Protection and Powder Coating in Dresden, leading the program. In his presentation, Dr. Ralph Wilken, Head of Surface Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM, took a close look at the effects of the new PFAS regulation, where there is still great uncertainty as to how far a possible ban will go. Stefan Lenzer from Kluthe provided interesting insights into the carbon footprint and how companies can act here in connection with the topic of sustainability. The topic of digitalization is also on the agenda of many companies, and Arnaud Kropp from Softec provided practical solutions for powder coaters, including the use of Softec's ERP systems.

Examples from powder coating practice were given in the presentation by Frank Brünnig, Managing Director at Emptmeyer, who dealt with quality assurance for painting hooks and racks before, during and after coating and how capacity utilization can be increased with special racks. The efficiency of many powder coating systems can also be improved by the new Flowsense technology from Wagner, as Josip Marijanovic explained in his presentation. Flowsense measures and regulates the powder output fully automatically during the powder coating process and thus delivers a constant coating thickness. Dennis Lenz from the expert laboratory of Dr. Herrmann GmbH & Co. KG, presented the development of a dual corrosion protection system consisting of cold galvanizing and powder coating as an alternative to hot-dip galvanizing of steel substrates, which was implemented with two other project partners. In the presentation on powder coating of strip galvanized steel, Dr. Thomas Herrmann provided practical knowledge and insights into the powder coating of zinc coatings in order to avoid coating errors and damage by taking appropriate measures. Last but not least, Clemens Kittinger from the Medical University of Graz provided informative insights into the world of bacteriology and microbiology as well as standards and test methods on the topic of "Testing antibacterial coatings - or how horrible can surfaces be?". After dinner together, another highlight on the agenda the next day was a visit to the lamp manufacturer Molto Luce, where the participants were able to see the company's own modern powder coating plant. Impressions of the event can be found in the IMH review; the next Annual Powder Coating Forum is planned for 2025.