Metal makes industry. Whether for ships, signs or buildings, metal plays a huge, pivotal part in the advanced world. Without it, there is no travel, no economy, exploration, no computers. Nothing. Such a critical part of the developed world is rigorously studied and inspected for safety, especially when it comes to application. It’s no surprise, then, that there are so many different kinds of coatings for this industrial metal. The coating might not seem important but actually it’s one of the most fundamental parts that protects the construction. It guards against heat, rust, all manner of irritants and dangers that would otherwise collapse the buildings and planes that make up the complicated parts of our world. Here’s a list of some of the more common industrial coatings and the benefits they provide.

• To start, the paint industry is actually comparatively large. It has a value of 10.6 billion dollars and ships millions of gallons around the world each year. This is a significant portion of the economy, even if it seems like paint might not be important. It most certainly is.
  
• In the world of industrial coatings and metal hardness, there are two kinds of coatings capable of protecting against extremely high-temperature. The first is called diffusion. It essentially forms a solid gradient all over the surface and protects by protecting everything instead of just parts of the structure itself.
  
• The other type is called overlay and is a bit different. The material in overlay is put near the surface of the metal substrate unlike the others which are a bit different.
  
• Aluminum metal coatings have their own types as well. The first is aluminium-silicon and is hot dipped to ensure extra efficiency. It can stand up to anything near 1250 Fahrenheit and can reflect anything up to 900 degrees.
  
• The second is hot-dipped as well but its pure aluminum instead of involving silicone. This type of coating has surprising protection against corrosion and lasts for a long time. It’s preferable for anything very heavy-duty.
  
• A powder-coating is one of the more aesthetically pleasing of the coatings and is often used for its shiny appearance. It involves an electrostatic process that combines the powder to a metal surface. It is processed under high-heat as well although not as high as the aluminum composites.
  
• Another type of coating is called G40 and its composition is interesting. IT’s galvanized and made of zinc, which is especially useful. It is often applied to steel under high-temperature. This unique process is a bit unlike the others.
  
• These hard coatings and industrial coatings can be found in a lot of places, some obvious, some not. They’re used on billboards, ships, even traffic signs. Traffic paint, as expected, is a lucrative area of coating and was worth 4 million dollars in 2014. Industrial maintenance coating, another lucrative area, was worth over a billion dollars in 2014.

Over the past thirty years, the industrial coatings industry has really helped the economy. It provides protection for many of the machines that families and friends ride in every single day. Understanding the processes by which these machines are made safe is important because its only through understanding that the public and the industries themselves can make greater strides in keeping our world safe and secure. And there’s nothing more important than that.