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Paintfilm is increasingly replacing painting in automobiles |
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Paintfilm is an ultra thin, painted elastic film that is bonded to various plastic parts during their molding. Plastic film that coats parts and imbues them with color and high gloss may soon replace paint on cars. The invisible films when applied, are used to protect automotive parts like bumpers, door sills, rocker panels, body side moldings, roof pillars from damage.
Paintfilm, a new thermoplastic film, trademarked Fluorex, offered by Soliant can be recycled, so any scrap can be reground and reused in the resin stream. It appears like a roll of kitchen wrap 60 inches wide and 15,000 feet long and is fed through a mechanism that resembles a printing press. Here, this machine applies a clear coat, a pigmented layer of paint and then an adhesive layer that bonds the film to the part when it is molded. The base film is then stripped away, leaving a flexible, durable, high-gloss coating.
Paintfilm operations offer the advantages of being clean and green. In addition to having excellent adhesion to TPO, they can also be used with PC, PVC, ABS, and PC/ABS. These films do not scratch as easily as paint and can be moderately scratched without showing marks. Paintfilm is compatible with a variety of manufacturing processes including gas-assist injection molding, and allows multiple parts to be run, all in perfectly matched colors with just one film. Paintfilm�s versatility also gives automotive OEMs the ability to achieve multiple looks and decorating options, using different colors and styles, with the same tool and molding machine. The company offers 140 different colors under its Fluorex brand for automotive interior and exterior applications. The company can match any color, or create custom colors, not just for automotive applications, but also for appliance, recreational, consumer electronics, marine, architectural and signage markets.
Over 40 million parts with paintfilm are in use in the field over the last five years without any complaints. Honda, Toyota, Mercedes Benz are using Fluorex for exterior parts on some of their best-selling vehicles.
General Electric (GE) has developed a 0.5 mm polymer layer called Sollx� that coats molded plastic parts, imparting a variety of colors that shine like newly painted metal. And Sollx's most promising target market is the automotive industry, where paint is the single biggest manufacturing expense. Costing up to US$400 mln each, automated paint facilities of car factories are usually responsible for more than 30% of the entire factory's cost. Sollx� is an cost-effective option as automakers can coat parts using existing manufacturing facilities, eliminating the need to invest in new paint lines, as well as help decrease assembly time and tooling costs of auto components. The new film can also endure inclement conditions, as well as retain its gloss through tests emulating the rigors of the road and about 10-15 years of outdoor weathering. The film reacts to the sun's ultraviolet rays by producing a protective outer coating that does not corrode. The film allows colored insignias and logos to be chemically printed for customization. It is even theoretically capable of thermochromic effects, changing color with temperature shifts, so that the automotive could sport a dark shade in winter and a lighter color in summer. And the cost is comparable to that of painted plastic.
GE Plastics is also targeting golf carts, jet skis and outdoor equipment; though it�s most lucrative market remains the automotive industry. But before this can happen, car bodies have to be made of plastic not galvanized steel, which is currently the material of choice. Plastic is three times the price of the galvanized steel used in cars, and plastic has to get cheaper before Sollx can widen its market reach.
Painting of automobile bodies requires several coats to be applied; such as the initial electrocoat, primer, color coat and the clear coat. This results in the use of profuse amounts of solvents (volatile organic compounds or VOCs) that leak into the atmosphere, and constitute the largest single source of air pollution at car manufacturing plants. Stricter air-quality standards are forcing automakers to invest heavily in safer forms of paints and methods for applying them. Conventional lacquer paints that require extensive thinning with petroleum-based solvents are being phased out, because when sprayed they emit volatile organic compounds, or VOC�s, and carbon dioxide. The VOC�s are elements of ozone, and carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Several assembly plants in North America now spray water-based paints, others have converted to a new generation of �high solids� lacquers, which appear thicker than ordinary paints because they have more pigment. |
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