Overview: Advantages of Cerakote compared to anodizing
Cerakote offers several advantages over anodizing, especially in terms of material variety, protection performance, and design freedom. While anodizing is limited to aluminum, Cerakote can be applied to a much wider range of materials. Additionally, it provides high resistance to corrosion, chemicals, and abrasion, along with a wide selection of colors in a thin coating layer.
CERAKOTE
UV Stability
for durable color and surface quality
Temperature Stability
Resistant to temperatures up to 1000°C
Chemical Resistance
Reliable protection against many chemicals
Corrosion Resistance
Very good corrosion protection even under harsh conditions
Color selection
Wide color selection with many design options
Application
applicable to many materials, not just aluminum
Color Consistency
enables a consistent & reproducible color result
Environmental Impact
REACH, ROHS, and Prop 65 compliant
ELOXAL
UV Stability
good UV stability
Temperature Stability
Less flexible under extreme stress
Chemical Resistance
Basic protection, limited depending on the medium
Corrosion Resistance
Proven protection against corrosion, especially for aluminum
Color selection
significantly more limited in color and less flexible
Application
cumbersome and costly
Color Consistency
hard-to-reproduce results
Environmental Impact
requires wastewater treatment as well as waste disposal
Color and application options
Cerakote offers significantly more color and design options than anodizing. The coating is available in many shades, effects, and surface variants and can be applied flexibly to different materials. This makes Cerakote especially suitable for projects where, in addition to functionality, an individual look and high recognition are important.
CERAKOTE
Unique
Cerakote offers over 200 unique and popular colors and can be applied to all ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, composites, and many other substrates, making it a universal coating alternative to anodizing. This provides your customers with more design and finishing options.
ELOXAL
Limited
Due to the chemicals used, anodizing offers only a very limited color selection and can only be applied to aluminum and titanium surfaces.
Infrastructure and Application
Processing Cerakote requires appropriate pretreatment, a clean spraying environment, and controlled curing. Depending on the component, degreasing, blasting, and oven processes are added. In contrast, anodizing requires a significantly more complex industrial infrastructure with electrochemical systems, making it less flexible for smaller applications.
CERAKOTE
Accessible
The required Cerakote coating system is cost-effective and space-saving, making it ideal for small to large production volumes.
ELOXAL
Impractical
Anodizing requires expensive equipment, storage space, and chemicals that take up a lot of room.
Colorfastness
Cerakote impresses with very high color durability and maintains a consistent appearance even with intensive use. Compared to anodizing, significantly more color options are available without the surface quickly losing its effect. This makes Cerakote especially attractive for applications where both function and appearance are equally important.
CERAKOTE
Uniform
Cerakote adheres to all aluminum and titanium alloys, allowing customers to achieve consistent colors and finishes regardless of the substrate. The color accuracy of Cerakote meets a standard of < ±1Δ. This results in better quality, fewer defects, and cost savings.
ELOXAL
Uncontrolled
It is known that color consistency varies significantly from part to part and from batch to batch, due to chemical fluctuations and subtle differences in the substrate that cannot be controlled.
Environmental impacts
In terms of environmental impact, anodizing is often well-known as an established process and is technically widespread. Cerakote, on the other hand, stands out primarily for its thin coating and long durability, which can reduce rework and frequent recoating. As a result, Cerakote can contribute to more efficient resource use in practice.
CERAKOTE
Compliant
Cerakote contains no heavy metals and is VOC-compliant in all 50 states. Cerakote is a REACH, ROHS, and Prop 65 compliant coating.
ELOXAL
Dangerous
The anodizing process involves the use of acids that can be hazardous and require wastewater treatment as well as waste disposal, which can be costly.
How Cerakote and Anodizing Affect Aluminum Alloys
Cerakote does NOT negatively affect the strength properties of aluminum alloys. Anodizing creates a brittle and porous oxide layer as well as tensile stress, both of which negatively impact the strength properties of aluminum alloys. This effect, which occurs during anodizing, has been observed several times.
Links: Cerakote. Right: Anodized.
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