Which painted finish performs best?

When your project requires lasting performance in a choice of colors, specify 70% PVDF architectural coatings for aluminum framing systems.

Specifying performance should be the easiest part of selecting an architectural paint finish for your project’s Alumicor aluminum building envelope products. With a nearly unlimited palette of possibilities, it’s choosing a color that can be the challenge.

Curtainwall, storefront, windows and entrance doors are among the only products on a building with both a visible interior surface and an exposed exterior surface. It’s the exterior that faces the most demanding conditions.

Photo courtesy of Transparent Glazing Systems Ltd.

Specify for High Performance

Depending on the project’s location, the framing system’s exterior will need to withstand exposure to direct sunlight, rain, dirt, wind, coastal salt spray and extreme temperature fluctuations from freezing winters to summer heat soaring to 40oC. In addition to these climatic concerns, projects near industrial centers and urban business districts also contend with air pollution, vehicle emissions and road de-icers, as well as the smears, scratches and dings from high frequency use.

Architectural coatings specified to meet AAMA 2605 offer the highest level of protection for aluminum framing and building performance. In 2022, the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) updated AAMA 2605 Voluntary Specification, Performance Requirements and Test Procedures for Superior Performing Organic Coatings on Aluminum Extrusions and Panels (with Coil Coating Appendix) to guide architects and specifiers in choosing the correct performance for their projects.

To ensure optimal performance and appearance, Alumicor partners with Linetec as our single source solution for architectural finishing. Linetec is 100% compliant with all applicable AAMA specifications. Painted finishes meeting AAMA 2605’s industry-leading performance specification include 70% polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin-based coatings, also known as fluoropolymer coatings.

Architectural coatings with 70% PVDF resin that meet AAMA 2605 specifications exhibit outstanding resistance to color fade and change, chalking, gloss loss, humidity, salt spray and chemicals, and ensure a long-lasting, durable finish. No other coating system can withstand the rigors of nature and time like those based on the 70% PVDF resin.

Tom Arban Photography Inc

Select for Durable, Lasting Appearance

In most liquid architectural paint finishes, a typical gallon of paint is 10% pigment, 20% resin and 70% solvent. Resins are the compounds in the paint that form the film and hold the pigment in place. The resin system is the determining factor in the specific characteristics and performance properties of the paint.

The exact composition of a particular paint coating is often complex and proprietary. Sometimes, brand names are used when referring to coating systems. For example, Kynar and Kynar 500 are registered trademarked brands of fluoropolymer resin used in architectural metal coatings owned by Arkema.

Linetec is a fully approved and licensed applicator of such leading high-performance 70% PVDF resin-based architectural fluoropolymer coating manufacturers and brands as: PPG and its DURANAR brand, The Sherwin-Williams Company (formerly Valspar) and its Fluropon brand, AkzoNobel and its TRINAR brand.

With Linetec’s in-house computerized blending capabilities, more than 60,000 unique colors have been applied through its paint facility. Alumicor’s 19 standard paint colors are:

Standard color 70% PVDF resin-based coatings typically are two-coat systems, consisting of a primer and color coat. Two-coat mica systems, also consist of a primer and color coat. Three-coat and four-coat systems are used for metallic and exotic colors and usually have a clear top coat and may require a barrier coat. Custom color matches and specialty 70% PVDF resin-based coatings also include textured terra cotta finishes.

When you specify AAMA 2605 architectural paint finishes for Alumicor aluminum framing systems, you can be assured that it will perform at the highest level and that color consistency will be exceptional from batch to batch and project to project.

Please contact your client development manager for personalized assistance in selecting and specifying architectural coatings for your project’s Alumicor products.

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