Aluminum or mica flakes charge differently from resin particles, so in a loose mix they separate in the gun, the booth and the reclaim. Bonding heats the blend just enough to tack the flakes onto the powder particles, keeping the ratio steady from first part to last. Bonded metallics can be reclaimed, give better batch-to-batch match and are the standard for architectural metallic finishes.
Order the bonded metallic for the curtain wall, the dry blend went patchy on that last mock-up.
Also heard as
- bonded metallic powder
Do not mix it up with
- Dry blend: A dry blend has the flake loosely mixed in, so the metallic content shifts as you spray and recycle.
Related terms
Dry blend
Powder in which additives such as metallic flake are mixed in loose after milling rather than fused on.
Reclaim
Oversprayed powder collected from the booth and fed back into the system for reuse.
Delta E
A single number for how far a color is from its standard, read by a spectrophotometer.
Candy
A tinted transparent topcoat sprayed over a bright base so the color glows with metallic depth.