By Angus Mackie, Qualicoat UK & Ireland chair
As you may expect from the name, delivering consistent quality is paramount for Qualicoat applicator licence holders.
This is achieved through regular monitoring of the powder coating process at the member’s test laboratory – and this is where the laboratory technicians step in.
It is now mandatory that the applicator licence holder’s laboratory technicians attend a refresher training course at least once every two years.
This ensures that the latest developments in the Qualicoat specification for production monitoring and testing are implemented and maintained. This, in turn, will help ensure compliance when unannounced applicator audits are undertaken every six months, and that an applicator maintains their Qualicoat licence.
The yearly training meetings, a Qualicoat specification requirement, are organised by IFO which is a Qualicoat UK & Ireland independent test house located in Germany.
The most recent training day was hosted in Milton Keynes by Chemetall, which made available testing equipment for chrome-free analysis including photometers and a hand held x-ray machine.
A total of 25 participants from all over the UK attended to discuss specification updates and listen to technical presentations.
Industrial Physics, a global test and inspection equipment supplier, offered additional measurement equipment, introducing and explaining equipment that monitors the cure index. Akzo Nobel offered a presentation explaining how powder formulations are produced, specifically which materials were used to offer the various classes of coatings for extended gloss and colour retention.
Oliver Boegler, head of inspections at IFO, gave an overview of coating various aluminium alloys, coating testing methods and an update on the latest Qualicoat specifications.
With four new powder coating applicators receiving their licences recently and further applicators currently undergoing training and review by IFO, the majority of architectural powder coaters in the UK & Ireland are licensed to supply to the Qualicoat specification and carry the Qualicoat label.
The Qualicoat specification is continually and incrementally revised in real time with regular update sheets, and is completely rewritten at year end to include all updates. The global specification, its appendices and any update sheets are always freely available for download at www.qualicoat.net.
