GKD Secondary Finishes Provide Designers with Full Spectrum of Color

GKD Metal Fabrics, the leading provider of architectural metal mesh, now offers designers and specifiers an unlimited array of color coating options when designing with metal fabric. Powder coating, specialty painting and also screen printing are used for adding color to stainless steel wire mesh, results in colorful fabric options that are also resistant to extreme heat, cold, bending and flexing.

“For designers who want the functional advantages of stainless steel mesh, but want to explore a color palette beyond the alloy’s signature silver, powder coating and other painting methods solve all challenges at once,” explains Darren Bromwell, GKD-USA Estimating Manager / Coatings Specialist. GKD offers a handful of secondary finishing techniques when it comes to colors and surfaces:

• Powder Coating Process – With an exclusive partnership now in place, GKD offers an automated and cost-effective means to apply color to metal fabric using continuous process color coating. In this method, the mesh is subjected to a rigorous cleaning regimen that includes an ionic bath to remove any and all dust, dirt, oil and other particles from the surface. Then, high-grade pigment powders are applied to the charged material (the mesh) and heated to create a powerful bond. This process allows any quantity of wires to be permanently color-coated and depending on the mesh, enables panel dimensions of up to 20 feet by 6 feet horizontally. In addition to standard colors, GKD can custom match a provided color sample.
• Wet Coating Process – Similar to automotive painting, pre-cut meshes are coated using a paint spraying process. Used primarily on smaller sized mesh panels, this allows an even coating with a high surface quality. In addition to the colors available in the Natural Color System® (NCS), GKD can also analyze individual color samples and reproduce them as custom finish. A comprehensive range of colors used by the automobile industry are also available to produce metallic effects.
• Screen Printing and Digital Printing – GKD applies these methods when the design calls for a reproduction of complex and/or colored graphics onto a metal fabric surface.