Why would metalurgists work with powder companies to come up with powders for aluminum that cure under 300 degrees if there was no evidence that temps like that will compromise aluminum? Most of the powder coaters I spoke with said there's no such thing, they'd never heard of it, "this is how I do it all the time", or "we've never had a problem in X number oof yrs of doing it like this"........and maybe so. But if a better way comes along, they need to become informed and get abreast of the latest technologies, rather than desperately clinging onto the old way.
In my own line of work, there are a number of people , doing what I do, but not doing things to the best of their ability. Whether they are being lazy, are just behind the times, or are uninformed, I dunno. My own father is in my line of work, but has no interest in learning about heated floors, sound suppression and crackk isolation membranes, glass and steel installation methods, and epoxies etc.....He always claims that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But the truth is, he is on his way out of the trade, and simply cannot be bothered.
As an eg:
I install flooring. Could I use standard modified mortar to install glass tile? Sure. It may, and probably will take longer to cure, and will not have a very good bond with the glass tile, but the customer would likely never know this throughout the lifetime of their kitchen backspalsh, let's say. However, I should, and do, employ a specific lightweight glass tile mortar that chemically cures from the inside out, and bonds better to the glass tile, becasue the glass tile, being 100% unabsorptive, will not work propely with traditional mortars.
It may be a case of the part still being "strong enough" to do it's job or hide any weaknesses that came up during the process...but to claim that the part will still be as strong as it was new, is probably misleading. I am no scientist, however those people are relied on by "we the people" to inform us of things in their field of specialty. I can't see metalurgists just making this up if it's untrue. Sorry- call me unconvinced, but I would spend my money, on a structural item being coated, with someone who understands and observes a more modern standard of practise, than " That's the way we always do it".
I am a guy who has bent a number of cast aluminum wheels, and I would rather have a bend than a shatter and crash from the forces impacted by a wheel, while leaned over at 100 mph, or riding down a flight of stairs or over a curb, or hitting a pothole in traffic, or a sunken manhole cover, etc.
