High-Gloss Surface Trends for Finishing
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High-Gloss Surface Trends for FinishingCurrent design trends increase the need for high-gloss surface technology.

The worldwide trend toward high gloss surfaces in interiors, furniture and flooring places new requirements on processes and products.

Diverse innovations, which are tailored to those corresponding requirements, have been developed specifically for those applications.

The perfect high gloss surface stands in connection with cost effectiveness and technical feasibility and the main factors in achieving it include: maximum gloss level, smooth surface, depth effect, resistance, costs, process technology, and design variety.

There are several ways to create a high gloss surface with one of the more recent technology trends being hot coating on melamine-faced, wood-based panels.

The more the market for high gloss surfaces grows, the request for cost effective solutions and a variety in design will become more apparent. As the high gloss market was previously limited to high quality and highly precise applications in the past, time consuming and complex processes could be used. The application of several layers of lacquer (sometimes manually) which need intermediate sanding and polishing are typical. Today the market for take-away furniture demands high gloss surfaces with acceptable quality and inexpensive prices.

Naturally there should also be market differentiation in the quality assessment of high gloss surfaces. However, the end user always has the ideal of a mirror or a glass plate and establishes criteria regarding surface smoothness and gloss level on their own. As the depth effect is heavily dependent on the layer thickness, manufacturers of furniture components, for example, are faced with the challenge of realizing this quality with inexpensive materials.

One of the least expensive wood-based materials is melamine-faced chipboard. The decorative layer is basically applied in the manufacturing process in chipboard production. In addition, the user has a wide variety of different designs to choose from.

With hot coating technology, even standard melamine-faced panels can get a high-quality, high gloss surface with an easy processing technology.

The key is the adhesion of hot coating to melamine surfaces and smoothing the surface with the hot coating processing technology.

The panels can basically be taken from the shelf as they are. Time intensive sanding or pre-treatment is not required. Even texture (e.g. mini pearl) on the melamine surface does not disrupt the easy hot coating process.

Hot Coating and Digital Print

The trend toward individualization in design and technology is in practically all industrial areas. This leads to smaller batch sizes accordingly. Manufacturers must adjust with flexible technologies and manufacturing logistics.

As a result, digital print has become a very attractive technology and even more presentable due to further developments in print and ink technology over the last few years.

Hot coating offers an innovative alternative as a surface coating for flooring, furniture and building components and follows the same philosophy as digital print: 1) easy processing technology and 2) individual and quickly adjustable to different requirements.

Also, a resistant and flexible surface can be achieved with hot coating.

• Highly abrasion resistant surfaces > AC5

• Unbeatable flexibility / shock resistance

• Inline embossing of three dimensional structures

• Optimal on surface technologies for digital print

• Colored, highly resistant technical coating for facades, housing, panels, etc.

• Easy application technology for panel substrates and roll material

The result is a digitally printed and highly resistant wrapping material which has a 3D texture. This material is not only producible in small batch sizes, it is also highly flexible despite high abrasion resistance and is suited for wrapping.

Source: Kleiberit Adhesives. For more information call Mike VandenBerg, sales representative, at (219) 663-9418 or visit Kleiberit.com.

 

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