NEW Environmental Product Declarations, the info you need on weathering testing for coatings and more from IFS
Check out our short, quarterly newsletter providing you with information on using high performance powder coatings in architecture and design.
IFS Coatings achieves Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)!
 
LEED, BREAM and WELL are changing the way we think about how buildings and communities are
planned, constructed, maintained and operated.
 
Sustainable design is not just a trend, it's a necessity and should be applied to all types of projects-from homes to corporate headquarters-at all phases of development.
 
Environmental Product Declarations, or EPDs as they are known, provide a third party verified, transparent look at a product, its ingredients and its impact across the entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal.
 
The latest version of LEED, LEED v4, requires that vendors to LEED projects have an EPD. The materials section of LEED v4 focuses on materials to get a better understanding of what is in them, and the effect those components have on human health and the environment.
 
IFS Coatings has achieved EPDs for all of our architectural, high performance powders.

IFS Coatings' - the environmentally responsible choice.
IFS Coatings has provided the environmentally responsible choice for a long time. It's part of our mission statement, we choose not to make high performance liquid coatings because of their environmental impact, and our high performance architectural powder coatings protect and decorate buildings all over the USA while being the environmentally responsible choice.
IFS Coatings' architectural range boasts a string of environmental advantages including no or low VOCs, no toxic compounds, no toxic landfill created in manufacture or application and the ability to reclaim, recycle and reuse the powder, to name but a few. It also significantly outperforms equivalent liquid PVDF coatings in every reporting category that the EPDs requires.

We have invested heavily in our architectural program to achieve EPDs for each of our architectural products: IFS 300SP our interior grade standard polyester which meets and exceeds the performance requirements of AAMA 2603; IFS 400SD, our high performance Super Durable Polyester which meets and exceeds the performance requirements of AAMA 2604; and IFS 500FP, our high performance Feve based Fluoropolymer which meets and exceeds the performance requirements of AAMA 2605, all have an EPD.

Kreg Gardner, VP Architectural Business Development explains, "We recognize that environmentally responsible design is increasingly important and we truly believe our architectural range offers outstanding protection in a vast range of colors and effects, while allowing design professionals to spec our coatings knowing they have made the environmentally responsible choice without compromising on performance. We are delighted to have the scientific data to back this up."

EPD criteria and process
SCS Global Services, an ANSI Recognized Eligible Program Operator, was retained to evaluate the IFS Coatings life cycle information including ingredients, formulations, energy usage, waste creation, water usage, packaging, application and other information and determine that IFS Coatings architectural powders satisfy all requirements of the Product Category Rules (PCR) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and follow international standards including, ISO 14044, ISO 14025, and ISO 21930 for building products. Via a legal Confidentiality Agreement, SCS cannot share any proprietary information provided by IFS. There are obviously variations in the application parameters, equipment used and the types of products that our coatings are used on, from structural to decorative. With this in mind, a variety of scenarios were given and an average taken for modelling purposes

What LEED credits are achievable by using IFS high performance architectural powder coatings?
The LEED Material Resources (MR) credit for Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - EPD has 2 options.  IFS Coatings EPD applies to option 1. This recognizes LEED projects which include 20 products with 20 EPDs from at least 5 manufacturers.  So, products coated with IFS architectural products will contribute to a point for the project. This is summarized below.

Credit
Project Type
Total points
Requirements
Calculations
MR: Building product disclosure and optimization - Environmental product declarations
Option 1.
All types
1 point
Use at least 20 different permanently installed products sourced from at least 5 different manufacturers that meet one of the product disclosure criteria
IFS Coatings EPD, a product-specific EPD with third-party certification and external verification, counts for 1 whole point

The IFS Coatings EPDs can also be used to meet the requirements of other green building ratings programs such BREAM and WELL.
 
To get a copy of the IFS Coatings architectural range EPDs contact Flevin@ifscoatings.com or visit the IFS Coatings website at www.ifscoatings.com

Department of New York Sanitation - DSNY
 
The NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is all about promoting a healthy environment, with efficient management of the City's solid waste and environmentally sound long-range planning to
handle New Yorkers recycling and garbage top priorities.
 
The enormous office building, located on the west side of Manhattan also boasts environmentally responsible features. The entire façade of the block-long building is covered in cutting edge louver technology by Construction Specialties, and those louvers are coated with high performance Fluoropolymer powder coatings from IFS. World class protection, superior color and gloss retention and wide ranging environmental advantages all come as standard with IFS 500FP, and the DSNY benefits from all of that and more.
Weathering testing - what's important for your coating?
 
IFS high performance coatings are designed and formulated to perform on exterior applications, including curtain wall, windows, stadium structures and more.
 
Any coating used on exterior applications has to work extremely hard, and one of the biggest battles is with the weather. Sunlight, rain, dew and humidity are just some of the atmospheric conditions that place a real strain on a coating. Weather damage can include color change, gloss loss, chalking, cracking and crazing.
 
To ensure that our coatings perform in these conditions, they are put through a series of tests. A range of mechanical and chemical tests are performed as well as vital weathering testing.
 
Natural weathering testing requires coated panels to be placed at a 45° angle to the sun, facing south, and be left for the required number of years, in harsh environments like Florida (year round UV, salt and humidity) or Allunga, Australia.
 
10 years (the required number of years for AAMA 2605) is a long time to wait for a new coating, so as long as the base formulations remain similar, accelerated testing is also used to test new products.
 
A QUV accelerated weathering tester reproduces the damage caused by sunlight, rain and dew. Instead of several years, the QUV UV tester can reproduce the damage that occurs outdoors in a few weeks or months.

To simulate outdoor weathering,
coated panels are placed inside a testing cabinet for QUV Testing and the accelerated tester exposes the coatings to alternating cycles of UV light and moisture at controlled, elevated temperatures. It simulates the effects of sunlight using special fluorescent UV lamps and dew and rain with condensing humidity and/or water spray.

As well as weathering in QUVA and QUVB cabinets, panels are tested in humidity cabinets and salt spray cabinets.
 
Ensuring the products can hold their color and gloss in these conditions is extremely important. The IFS high performance architectural powders are designed to meet and exceed the AAMA specifications and as such, IFS 500FP, our FEVE Fluoropolymer coating, will attain a 20 year warranty when applied to aluminum by a certified applicator.
 
For more information weathering testing or the AMAA testing procedures and requirements, please talk to your IFS representative.
2017-18 Color Trends
The IFS 2017 color trends will be available from January 2017!
 
Check out our 4 beautiful trends featuring a range of colors, effects and textures that capture what is on trend for 2017-18.
The 2017-18 trends are
  • Reinvention
  • Refreshing radiance
  • Verdure
  • Communities and connections
Get ready to explore the sensuous shades and exciting effects in 2017!
To order your sample panels now contact Grace at gkallhoff@ifscoatings.com

IFS Coatings | Grace Matherly | T: 940.612.4596 | Gmatherly @ifscoatings.com | www.ifscoatings.com

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