High Quality Finished Products Using SikaSeal®-330
Posted on Friday, August 22, 2025
In 2024, Sika introduced its first product designed specifically for the powder coating industry, SikaSeal®-330, opening the door to new markets and applications. SikaSeal®-330 is a heat curing seam sealant designed specifically for high temperature powder coat applications. It is designed to enable class A finishes with a variety of powder coat chemistries on substrates including aluminum, steel, and galvanneal.
Sika is a specialty chemical company with over 100 years of experience supplying many industries with products for concrete, roofing, waterproofing, sealing, and bonding. While new to the powder coating industry, Sika supplies most major automakers, home appliance makers, and many other industries with solutions to help them bond, seal, damp, reinforce, or protect their products. With the development and introduction of SikaSeal®-330, Sika now has a sealant developed specifically to aid and enhance the quality and appearance of powder coated products.
Superior finish quality, re-work reductions, and perfect color matching of powder coated products were the primary customer benefits Sika sought to achieve when the development of SikaSeal®-330 began. Our sales team observed the production processes of customers who were sealing the seams of powder coated products with general sealants after they went through the bake cycle. Most of these customers would do their best to color match the powder coat, but this is difficult; especially if the powder was not black, white, or grey. This insight kicked off a global development process that spanned three continents and utilized highly skilled chemists to bring a sealant to market that can survive the rigors of the powder coating process. The product development team formulated a sealant that could be applied to metal substrates prior to being coated, negating the need to color match, and survive the high temperature curing process.
Over 4,000 hours were spent developing and optimizing SikaSeal®-330 for the market. The required performance and property criteria were used to screen the technology bases that could be used for the backbone of the product. The company’s knowledge from sealant chemistries used primarily within the construction industry such as polyurethane, silicon and silane terminated polyurethane, as well as toughened epoxy, PVC plastisol, acrylic plastisol, and their hybrids used in the automotive industry, were very useful for the development. These learnings provided the basics for thermal stability, adhesion, flexibility, storage stability, and many other aspects of a one-component seam sealant.
Based on performance testing and with information gathered from the market, Sika’s chemists developed a product that would not only survive high temperatures, but not become brittle, brown, crack or emit smoke during the curing process. The key challenge during the development was to maintain the thermal stability of the sealant. The sealant had to maintain its basic performance and function, such as elasticity and flexibility, regardless of the application temperature. If the sealant becomes brittle before or after cure, it will lead to cracking and subsequent leaking from the seam that was sealed. In addition, it had to be compatible with a variety of powder coat chemistries. SikaSeal®-330 is the result of all that hard work.
SikaSeal®-330 was tested in the real world by customers who manufacture truck beds, dump trailers and service bodies for commercial fleets and work truck users. These companies pride themselves on producing high-quality beds and bodies, for demanding customers. Every piece of sheet metal, bolt, powder, or sealant that goes into the manufacturing of a truck bed or service body is heavily scrutinized and must meet the highest standards. These were the exact conditions and development partners Sika was looking to test SikaSeal®-330 as it had to meet best-in-class standards. Sika worked with these customers to make sure SikaSeal®-330 met or exceeded the required performance attributes for adhesion, sag, flexibility, tooling and elasticity while maintaining their high standards for finish quality. SikaSeal®-330 was tested under many different conditions, in many production facilities and with a number of different powders and colors to ensure that nothing was missed.
With the feedback generated from the customer trials, Sika made slight modifications to the formulation to ensure SikaSeal®-330 met the needs of our customers in this market. The final version was rolled out in 2024 and is currently available in the US and Canada.
SikaSeal®-330 is a cold applied, flexible sealant designed to be applied post-wash, prior to powder application. It cures at a temperature range between 190°C to 230°C (375°F to 446°F) at the same time as the powder. It is easy to apply, easy to tool and has good storage stability. SikaSeal®-330 has good adhesion to a variety of substrates with superior sag resistance. It can fill large gaps, corners and other tough areas to obtain optimal powder coverage. SikaSeal®-330 does not brown or crack at high temperatures and maintains its flexibility post-cure. It is available in 300ml cartridges, 600ml unipacks, 5-gallon pails & 55-gallon drums.
“The SikaSeal®-330 is closing all the gaps, it is preventing rust,” said Robert Mazzoni, production manager at U-Dump in Ocala, Florida.
Let Sika partner with you to see how we can help you close the gaps and enhance the finish quality of your powder coated products. Click the banner below to contact us with any questions or to schedule a trial with our sales team.
