Im not sure powder coat, for the DIY'r in particular, will be cheaper than painting. If sourcing it,then like anything it depends on the supplier (just understand the steps your particular supplier follows and be comfortable this iswhat you want). For sure if doing yourself its different than painting so some research and education will be needed, and its a little 'newer' industry (in part driven by the desire to reduce VOC's), so some conflicting information out there.
Some of the paints are quite durable and known. Imron is recommended as having high corrosion protection.
And I havent personally done a side by side between a known powder coating application and a paint application exposed to the same environment. I do believe people have done this though. And in particular if putting it in a marine environment they just couldnt live with poor corrosion resistance - so to me this suggests it can be done.
At the same time yes, there are a lot of examples out there where it 'failed' but that is true for paint as well, and in both cases is most often traced back to poor prep/undercoating. Even for paint a high zinc primer is recommended (often epoxy based to allow conduction between the zinc particles and the substrate). Similar primers are available in powder form, so thats a wash. And the phosphate conversion is to mitigate flash rust, again common to both solutions.
So it comes down to laying a polymer film via dry powder which is then melted, or spraying on with a solvent which then evaporates. (although film thickness, flexibility, coverage/porosity, impact hardness, etc all play a role). Perhaps two different means to the same end. I have even read instances where a user has powder coated base and then sprayed clear hardcoat over the top - a hybrid approach.
Not an expert. Just reading about the options and trying to learn.
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