The future outlook for industrial coatings points to increasingly green coatings in an attempt to totally eliminate high-VOC substances in paint formulations. The coatings industry is well aware of the large quantity of toxic substances that industrial coatings release in the environment, and, coupled with the alarming effects of global climate change felt everywhere in the planet, industrial contractors and facility managers are ever on the lookout for greener alternatives in industrial coatings. The future looks toward replacing solvent-based products with water-based solutions. Industrial contractors will someday use products that drastically reduce harmful VOC emissions in indoor and outdoor environments.
Cost benefit is another major consideration that drives the design of future industrial coatings. The main challenge in green coatings lies in keeping these products as cost-effective as solvent-based coatings. Sophisticated formulations of low-temperature curing coatings systems are also gaining ground, due to the obvious cost benefits. The same goes for universal primers, single-coat systems, and fast-curing systems.
Since the demand for coatings in the construction industry will continue to increase, coating performance in different temperatures, weather conditions, and environmental situations will also affect product formulation in years to come. Value-added features like thermal control, anti-microbial characteristics, scratch resistance, radiation and near-infrared curing, and nano-composites are some of the buzzwords that industrial contractors and facility managers will probably be very familiar with in the future of industrial coatings.
