Pre-treatment

Pre-treatments for powder coating on architectural aluminium

To ensure good adhesion of powder coating to an aluminium surface and protect against any subsequent corrosion, it is necessary to pre-treat the aluminium prior to the application of the powder coating.

This Pre-treatments for powder coating Position Paper summarises how the specification of powder coatings on architectural aluminium with respect to the pre-treatment may change, given the use of alternative pre-treatments to those based on hexavalent chromium compounds. In addition, BS 6496 which was used to specify pre-treatment was withdrawn in 2017 and its replacement, EN 12206-1, is being revised. Some questions to ask your powder coater in relation to the pre-treatment options are given in the paper.