System Coating Highlights in the Anniversary Year
At this year’s PaintExpo, FreiLacke is focusing on customized, sustainable, and economical solutions to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
When companies look back on their history, it’s about more than just anniversaries: it’s about innovation, responsibility, and future viability. For the Black Forest-based coating manufacturer FreiLacke, its 100-year history demonstrates how regional roots and an international focus can be successfully combined.
In 1926, founder Emil Frei Senior pursued a clear formula for success: an understanding of customer needs, a close connection to people, and a commitment to developing solutions for challenges and applications. This fundamental principle remains deeply ingrained in the DNA of the medium-sized company with 650 employees.
Against the backdrop of globally distributed manufacturing processes and increasing demands for sustainability, efficiency, and regulatory compliance, holistic coating solutions are gaining in importance. So too is professional service along the entire value chain.
FreiLacke addresses this with its system coating concept, which specifically coordinates powder, liquid, and electrocoating solutions as well as composites. The goal is a uniform appearance across different technologies, locations, and applications – while simultaneously optimizing processes, reducing emissions, and ensuring high cost-effectiveness.
E-Coats without VOC labeling requirements for greater sustainability – EcoOne
The innovative 2K ETL system requires no solvents or neutralizing agents requiring labeling, reduces VOC emissions, and is environmentally and employee-friendly. At the same time, EcoOne impresses with its high energy efficiency: thanks to a curing temperature that is approximately 30 °C lower, significant energy savings can be achieved in the production process. Despite the reduced energy consumption, the system ensures a uniform, high-quality coating film with high mechanical strength and reliable corrosion protection.
Powder coatings: Economical, durable and eco-efficient
The environmentally friendly range of powder coatings from the long-established Black Forest manufacturer has also been consistently developed further. The product portfolio includes a wide selection for applications such as steel and light alloy wheels, vehicle, machine and equipment construction, as well as the wind power and rail vehicle industries. The solutions for large, bulky components, which eliminate the need for a curing process, particularly underscore the focus on efficiency and sustainability.
Introduction of new powder coating collections
At PaintExpo, the new Colour Trends collections „The Art of Matte“ and „Buildings Collection“ will be presented for the first time.
The products in The Art of Matte Collection are deep matte powder coatings in current trend colors that guarantee timeless elegance for a high-quality appearance.
The Buildings Collection includes a wide variety of trend colors for design, function, and architecture – from perfect flow and high weather resistance to perfect fine textures, everything is combined in one collection.
Low-temperature (LT) powder coatings allow for a significant reduction in curing temperature and a noticeable decrease in energy consumption. LT coatings also help to shorten oven cycle times, thus increasing conveyor speeds. FreiLacke has further advanced its development work in this important area as well.
FreiLacke also offers LT solutions with a curing temperature of only 140° Celsius for 10 minutes. These are also available as a fine-textured version.
FreiLacke’s anti-slip powder coating systems also offer a wide range of applications:
The anti-slip powder coating system is tested according to DIN EN 16165:2023-02 (Annex B) and meets the requirements of slip resistance class R10.
This makes the system ideal for commercial and industrial areas with an increased risk of slipping – e.g., in damp, dusty, or slightly oily environments – and supports compliance with ASR A1.5/1.2 „Floors“. Furthermore, FreiLacke’s solutions eliminate the need for additional anti-slip films or transparent anti-slip lacquer layers.
Powder coatings are also suitable for coating materials such as SMC/BMC by simply spraying them into the mold. The highly reactive coating hardens in seconds, allowing the SMC/BMC to be inserted and pressed immediately. After pressing, the component is fully coated and demolded as usual. Surfaces generated using the PIMC process exhibit excellent chemical and mechanical resistance and are ideally suited for permanent outdoor use. PIMC is flame-retardant according to EN45545, HL3, R1, and thanks to its excellent properties, it can be used in many applications – for example, kitchen sinks, shower trays, facades, lighting fixtures, sporting goods, or even in vehicle manufacturing.
The major advantage of this process: Pressing and coating in a single operation eliminates the need for time-consuming subsequent painting, including the associated part handling and complex logistics involved in transporting components to an in-house paint shop or having them coated externally. With the PIMC process, the components remain in-house until completion and can then be shipped directly to the customer. A further advantage: operators expand their value chain and reduce costs for their customers while maintaining higher quality.
Liquid Coatings: Water-based Coatings in focus
Water-based coating systems offer a sustainable alternative to solvent-based coatings, as they significantly reduce VOC emissions while ensuring high performance. This improves both the environmental footprint and occupational safety.
FreiLacke offers a broad portfolio of water-based coatings for applications in automotive manufacturing, industry, and construction. The systems – from physically drying (WL) and oven-curing (WO) coatings to 2K polyurethane (WU) and epoxy resin solutions (WE) – are suitable for a wide variety of substrates, including metals, plastics, and mineral surfaces.
Among the high-performance products are the 2K PU single-coat coating WU1476M, which dries very quickly and offers excellent adhesion, and the 2K PU topcoat WU1488, designed to meet the highest demands for chemical, light, and weather resistance. The portfolio is complemented by the 1K single-coat coating WL1509, which impresses with its good temperature and humidity resistance as well as its economical application.
The ever-increasing demands on surface coatings, coupled with the continuous reduction of VOC content in paints and coatings, led FreiLacke to develop Ultra-High-Solid Systems (UHS). For conventional coatings, completely new coating systems with a solids content of up to 80% by weight and a VOC value of less than 350 grams per liter were developed and brought to series production readiness. These systems ensure rapid drying and accelerated production processes. FreiLacke offers various single- and two-coat solutions that boast high durability. The coating is available in all RAL colors as well as custom shades. Easy application – whether pneumatic, airmix, airless, or ESTA – and excellent durability characterize this system.
PFAS-Free Powder and Liquid Coating Solutions
PFAS-free powder and liquid coating solutions are gaining increasing importance in light of stricter regulatory requirements and rising sustainability goals. Modern coating systems are completely free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and still offer a high level of performance. They impress with reliable corrosion and chemical protection, good mechanical strength, and a high-quality surface finish.
For both powder and liquid coatings, PFAS-free formulations enable more environmentally and health-friendly processing, reduce potential risks along the value chain, and support users in future-proofing their coating processes – without compromising on quality, process reliability, or the durability of the coated components.
Manufacture composites cleverly
The advantages of glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) or carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are obvious: They are lightweight, extremely durable, and can be molded into almost any shape. In addition to a wide range of surface coating materials, FreiLacke now also offers components for manufacturing these parts. One example is the new CM Powder technology. Thanks to a special two-stage process, this innovative composite powder stands out from conventional resin systems for composite plastics because it can be completely melted without initiating the curing process.
FreiLacke offers a variety of coating solutions for composite materials, ranging from color pastes and fillers to gelcoats. These are colored hard coatings that are applied directly into the molds and permanently seal the molded parts against moisture, UV radiation, and pressure damage.
Furthermore, the system coating specialist has succeeded in significantly reducing the styrene content in gelcoats, as this substance is considered hazardous to health and environmentally problematic. „Using an alternative monomer, we have produced a styrene-reduced gelcoat that even achieves better results in terms of weather resistance and shelf life than conventional systems,“ reports Head of Development Heiko Blattert.
