Gorilla Tough-Coat™ was designed to meet the stringent requirements of today's architectural designs. The Gorilla Tough-Coat™ is meeting and exceeding the AAMA 2604 & 2605 specifications. These coatings on steel are passing 7000 hours of salt sprays, unaffected. At DuPont Laboratories, they are currently testing aluminum at more than 7000 hours with zero loss of adhesion, surface defects or corrosion. These results along with a real world test at our facility show that properly prepared substrates - carefully selected primers & powders along with precise cure schedules - can yield better performance than ever expected. In some cases, 10 years plus.

We have a railing in purple and white that has been in a northern exposure for 11 years. The coating was the original Gorilla Tough-Coat™. Even where there is damage, no rust or delamination has occurred.

What is the Gorilla Tough-Coat™?

This system is based on careful customer relations, starting with quality substrates and careful welding and fabricating. Our goal here is to make sure that what you build will have the appearance and life expectancy you and your customer are looking for. The surface is prepared with Gorilla Grip* to meet Gorilla Tough-Coat™ specifications. This provides a smooth lightly textured finish with excellent adhesion properties.

Each part is then hand inspected during the racking process; to ensure no defects, prevent hook marks, or unexpected complications. Care is taken to mask slip joints or welding areas so that the performance of the powder is as unaffected as possible.

Once the part is ready for Gorilla Tough-Coat™, the selected primer is applied cold, spotlighted for coverage, then B-staged and cooled. Careful inspection is performed before the color coats are applied.

The first color coat is then applied, checking for faradays and uniform coverage. Then B-staged, removed and cooled. At this time the part is inspected and noted if any problems arise or persist.

The second color coat is applied and or topcoat. This is the final leveling and consistency coat where the finish really stands out. The powder is applied paying careful attention to the uniformity of the coating. The part then receives a final inspection before baking. This bake cycle is ramped and extended to provide maximum cross-linking as well as excellent interlaminar bond. All the thermodynamics are calculated based on weight and material for best results.

The part is then cooled naturally, Q/C inspection and packed for protection. As you can see, there is a lot to an approved architectural coater. This is not just a hang and shoot process. These details will make and or break the life of your coating.

     - Gregory J. Leja

Galvanizing

Problems & Concerns

Galvanizing has been in use for many years. With the advent of new Technologies, a reassessment of galvanizing for today's requirements is needed. Galvanizing (zinc coating) is a sacrificial coating for steel.

When zinc comes in contact with the atmosphere, it becomes contaminated with ambient moisture (humidity), the galvanic action begins to take place on the sacrificial surface. The surface begins to break down leaving a loose, dusty finish that the paint or powder was bonded to. As the footing erodes away so does the adhesion to the surface of the steel that you are trying to protect.

Remember painted gutters over galvanizing, the paint would flake off in large pieces. This was the delamination of paint from the galvanizing due to erosion.

Remember galvanizing was designed to be a slow continuous corrosion, not eliminate it.

The better approach is to encapsulate the metal in a durable coating that is melted and bonded to a specially prepared surface. The coating is 100% solid (not a 60% solution) that is flowed into the surface at high temperature. The pores of the metal open up, when heated, then close around the coating when cooled. This creates a cohesive bond between the metal and the protective coating. This becomes a durable, good looking & long lasting surface that will require very little maintenance.

* Patent Pending

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