All about RAL catalog

Choosing a color for powder coating is probably the hardest part of the entire coating process. Especially considering that there are an incredible amount of paint colors. In addition, each color can have some effect.

Powder paint cannot be colored on its own. All possible colors are presented in a special ral catalog. There are so many shades that everyone can choose the perfect one for themselves.

There are five variants of this standard. They were designed for different purposes.

RAL Classic is a complete table of colors used to make paint.

RAL Design is an orderly color chart for design professionals. In it, the color ranking is in accordance with the technological value of tone, brightness and saturation.

RAL Digital is an electronic version of all catalogs. It is required for work in design programs and for automatic design.

RAL Effect is a catalog of matt and metallic colors.

RAL Plastics are shades for plastic application.

This table makes it much easier for professionals to create and select shades

The history of the RAL catalog

The RAL catalog was developed by the State Committee on Supply Conditions in 1927. In German, the name of this institution is: Reichs-Ausschuss fur Lieferbedingungen. The catalog name is an abbreviation of the committee name.

It is now called the Product Quality and Display Institute.

A catalog has appeared at the request of manufacturers of paint and varnish products. The fact is that manufacturers of paints and their customers are constantly misunderstood because of the colors. The customer imagined one thing, and the manufacturer understood in his own way. Therefore, as a result, the paint could not have the color that the customer expected. Because of this, there was a great need to streamline the color palette and bring it to a certain standard. So the ral catalog appeared. The experts divided all the colors into ranges and gave each shade its own designation. And the problem was solved. Now both the customer and the manufacturer can understand exactly what the color is.

The first catalog had only 40 colors. And now they are more than 200. This catalog is called RAL classic.

Later variations of the catalog began to appear. In 1993 RAL Design was released. It initially had 1688 colors, then their number decreased. And in 2018, it increased again to 1825. In addition to the usual labels, the names of shades in this catalog are translated into 4 languages ​​(and into Russian as well).

In the powder industry, the RAL classic powder paint catalog is used.

RAL Effect was established in 2007. It contains 420 matte paints and 70 metallics.

A little later, it became necessary to create an electronic version of all catalogs. That’s how RAL Digital came about. And with the development of the plastic processing industry, was created a RAL Plastics catalog.

How does the RAL classic for powder paint

In the catalog used to create powder paints, each shade has a four-digit code. The first digit is a color series and the next digit is a color number.

The colors are divided into the following series:

1xxx – yellow,

2xxx – orange,

3xxx – red,

4xxx – purple,

5xxx – blue,

6xxx – green,

7xxx – gray,

8xxx – brown,

9xxx – light and dark colors.

How does the RAL classic for powder paint

In the catalog used to create powder paints, each shade has a four-digit code. The first digit is a color series and the next digit is a color number.

The colors are divided into the following series:

1xxx – yellow,

2xxx – orange,

3xxx – red,

4xxx – purple,

5xxx – blue,

6xxx – green,

7xxx – gray,

8xxx – brown,

9xxx – light and dark colors.

RAL colors for powder paint

The standard has 213 shades for powder paint. Of these, 17 are metallics. Each series has from 10 to 40 shades. Each of them can have a specific effect: shagreen, moiré, texture and others.

The institute that created the color standard is constantly working and adding new shades to the catalog.

Choosing a color for painting, it is necessary to take into account that some factors can distort the shade. This is influenced by the structure of the part being painted, the shine and the lighting.

Because powder paint is non-colorable, it is often a problem that powders of different batches have different shades.

However, if you use high-precision equipment, this problem can be avoided. Lacover takes a lot of time and effort to create the perfect paint. So we always go color in color. You can choose a color for painting in our program.

But sometimes, in order for the shades to match, not only properly produced powder is necessary. Much depends on the coating technology. In such cases, our specialists always advise you how best to apply the paint to keep the color the same.