Historic Development ‘The car painting industyy has undergone incredible changes by way ofmaterialsand processes development following the general progress of manufacturing tehhnology froma the staitof the twentieth century until today. Early coating processes, that ie, during the frst hal of the twentieth century, involved the use of air drying paints, sanding of eadh layer and polishing, all of which needad weeks for completion. All the coating steps were executed manuclly (Figue 1.1) Different driving forces behind the development of beter end more efficient processes have broughtin dramatic changes overthe last 100 years. Introduction of mass production requising fister curing paints, better film performance in teams of comosion and durability of colors, improved enwironmental compatibility, and fully automated processes for better seliability characterize the most imporant silestones in this field (Table 1.1). ‘The status of miss production of cars during the 1940s required new coatings providing faster drying and curing: the result — the birth of enamels! At the seme me, owing 1 thelr limited avalabiliy, te natural raw materials used in the ‘manufacture of the paints kad to give way to synthetic chemicals. Crosslinking, of paints became state of the art. The coating process could be reduced to a day mclading all necessary preparation tne for the car body like cleaning, sanding, repairing and so.oa, ‘The number of applied coatings had been reduced to four or fve layers, ll hand sprayed this time (Figure 1.2). The furction of these layers were corrosion protec. tionfortheprimers smoothness and chip resistance forthe primer surfacers which are often applied at the frontends and exposed areas in two layers), and color and. ‘weather resistance for the firal top-coat layer. In the 1950s the process of applying the primer changed to dip coating, a move automated process, but a hazardous one owing to the solvent emission of the solvent bome pain's. Explosions and fire hazards then forced automotive manufacturers to introduce either waterbome paints of electradepasition paints. The latter, which were introduced during the Fig. 1.1 Painting of cars in the 1920e and 19305 late 1960s, are more efficient in terms of material transfer as well as throwing, power that is necersary for improved contesion protection of the inner parts of the carbody. In the 1970s the anodic deposition coatings, mostly based on maleinized polybutadiene resins, quickly gave way to cathodic ones owing to better corresion protection by their modified epaxy resin backbones and reactive polyurethane-based crosalinkers, increased throwing power, and higher process reliability. At the sume time, the single layer top coats were gradually replaced by wo-layer top coats consisting ofa thin base coat and a thicker clear coat applied wetonwet, The base coats are resjonsible for color and special effects (for example, metalli: finish,Table 1.1 Milestones and diving forces inthe car sting process ve “Topies/Dvving orcas Aspects 1920 Manualpsintng ‘Time-consuming proces : weeks 1940 Mass production Enamelsjoventime : ay 1970 Iraproved hl pertormance CED/2-Laertopcoat/aew materiale 1980 Environmental compliance Waterborne contngs/ pow diytrarefer ficiency 2000 Atomsted process Firettime capabllyjtime :kours 40un 154m 30un 20um tum IE Fig. 12 Scheme ofthe multliyer coating of ers ‘whereas the clear coats provide improved durabiliy using specially designed resins and formula ingredients like UV.absorber and radical scavengers. Today, most clear coats in Europe are based on twocomponent (2K.) formulation consisting of aan sarylic tein with OH1functione and a seactive polyurethane crosslinker. The restof the wold still prefers the one-component technology based on acrylic resins and melamine crosslinkers. An interesting one-component technology based on carbamate functionality has been recently introduced in the United States(1} ‘All these developments contributed to an improved film performance resulting in better comosion protection and longer top-cost durabiliy — for example, gloss retention for up to 5-7 years was observed in Florida Furthermore, mw material development in the pigment section, with improved flale pigments based on aluminum and new interference pigments that change color depending on the angle in which they are viewed, has resulted in enhanced brilliance and color effects of automotive costings [2] ‘Along with this development of coating and paint technclogy, spray application techniques also underwent significant improvements. Starting with simple pnew- ‘matic guns and pressure pots for paint supply, today, craftsmanship in paiating is no longer needed, Several factors have contibuted to the develepment of coating, ‘machines and robots and the state of autoraation that is present today. The fist factor was the health risk to the painters who were exposed to solvent emission from paints inthe spray booth and the investment in safety equipment, which was often unsuitable for them. The second factor was the hazards of the electrstatic application technique. Yet another factor was the lack of uniform quality in a ‘manual painting jb. Because of the latest developments in wet-on.wet coating techndlogy, coating ‘machines, automated cleaning processes, and modern paints, the time taken today for the ccating process, including pretreatment, can be as shortas 8 hours for a car ‘body leaving the body shop and extering the assembly line (Figure 1.3) [3]‘Together with the continuous improvements of the application technclogy, new water based materiale were developed to contribute toward the legally enforced envizonmental compliance of the processes. The fist water-based base coats were introduced at Opel in Germany In the 1980s, followed by water-based primer surficers in the 1990s. Investments in modeen paint shops vary ftom £200 up to-€600 milion for coat- ing 1000 units a day. Today, yainting technology for thecar industy has bee more Searesl| Fash [EES cei To Assembly ina Back to “clearing” batore [Spamepar primer surfacer application Fig. 13 frocess steps in modein automotive paint hops orless standardized all overthe world, Inorganic pretreatment, cathodic elctrode- pesition, liquid or powder primer surfacer, liquid base coats, and one-component or two.component solvent-bome clear coats are mosty used today. This isa result ofthe consolidation ofthe engineering ané coating line manufacturers and paint producers taro just a handful of major players. In 2002, 70%6 of the car coating, ‘marketwas in the hands of Dupont, PPG, and BASF. ‘AS of today, the technolegy of powder coatings has reached a point where many car manufacturers have decided to intreduce exwitonmentally compliant technology more aggressively. Tolay, powder is established as the primersurficer in North America: at Carylser in all actual running plants, at GM for their tack plants, and in all new paint shops. In Europe, in a number of plants &t BMW, Ponder i also used a5 lea: coat Over the same period of time, body construction materials have also changed significantly, Starting with pure steel bodies, today the share of aluminum and ‘magnesium, as well as plastic, as raw materials for specific car components or hhang.on parts can account for about 30% of the weight of the car. On an average, half ofthis is plastic. The main focus ison weightreduction, design variability, and cos (Figure 14). Starting with bumpers in the 1970s, and moviug onto fenders and hoods, many of the exterior partsare naw made of specially designedplastics. The ceating process is predominartly outsourced for these parte, even though eome car manufacturers assemble the parts in the costing line and apply the original base coat-clear coat techaology on these parts to wercome color match problems.