WCX17 to Highlight UV/EB Technology
UV+EB Technology
The WCX™17: SAE World Congress Experience will feature a special one-day session dedicated to UV/EB technology for the automotive industry. “UV/EB Leading the Way for the Future of Automotive” will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on April 4 during the SAE conference, which runs April 4-6 in Detroit, Michigan.
The following is a preview of conference topics and speakers:
3D Printing: Automotive Update on Successes and Challenges
Emily Ryan, Ford Motor Company
Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are a vital part of advanced product design and manufacturing. Typically, AM technologies are used during design and prototyping phases to save time and reduce tooling or rework costs. Rapid development of both processes and materials for AM techniques such as fused deposition modeling (FDM) and powder bed metal fusion have made it possible to produce geometries that are not achievable using traditional manufacturing methods. However, metal processes are limited in their use to only particular types of automotive manufacturing such as castings and dies. Additionally, thermoplastic processes, such as FDM, lack the resolution capability and printing speed required to compete with the efficiency of injection molding large volumes of small parts. Stereolithography (SLA) and direct light printing (DLP) techniques have the potential to move beyond prototyping into the traditional manufacturing space, to compete with injection molding, due to increases in speed and print resolution coupled with reductions in cost. Currently available technologies face major challenges in making the transition from benchtop to plant floor. This presentation will review the state of the industry for DLP and SLA systems including a discussion on equipment capability and material properties. It will also identify key issues in printing speed, build plate size restrictions, repeatability and functionality of printed parts as well as long term durability and other factors preventing widespread implementation of AM parts in production vehicles.
UV Functional Coatings for Automotive Displays
Dr. Aneta Bogdanova, PPG Industries Inc.
In this presentation, UV functional coatings for automotive displays are reviewed. These coatings offer a combination of features such as hard coat, anti-glare and easy-to-clean properties. For example, a single layer UV curable coating demonstrates a high level of abrasion resistance and outstanding optical characteristics. The gloss and haze can be readily tuned to desired levels. The easy-clean properties, qualified by water contact angle, persist after severe steel wool abrasion tests. These coatings can be applied to various plastic substrates such as PC, PMMA, PET and triacetate. Preferred application methods are roll to roll, flow and spray. In addition, various other UV technologies with potential applications in automotive interior will be discussed.
UV Hardcoat Technology: Vision of Future Possibilities in Improving Vehicle Durability
Gary Williams, Red Spot Paint & Varnish Co. Inc.
UV curable coatings have been an instrumental part of the automotive industry since the early 1990s when plastic was introduced into forward lighting concepts for improved styling. Polycarbonate plastic offered complex design capability through molding, which wasnt possible with glass, but drastically fell short in terms of the durability glass gives. UV coatings, though unequal to the performance of glass, offered a significant improvement to the scratch resistance and exterior durability of polycarbonate, allowing successful entrance and advancement in the industry as a viable replacement to glass headlamp housings. Coating durability has continued to evolve with required demand as lighting design has become central to vehicle styling and have become less protected with horizontal placement on the vehicle. Often referred to in the lighting industry as hard coats, it is this unique characteristic of abrasion and scratch resistance that UV coatings offer over traditional 2K urethanes that make them ideal coating candidates for use in improving durability requirements in other areas of automotive, beyond the vision of forward lighting.
UV/EB Solutions that Drive GHG Saving and Small Footprint Automotive Paint Shop Solutions
Mary Ellen Rosenberger, BaySpring Solutions
Vehicle innovation and global regulations that support Green House Gas (GHG) reduction has the automotive industry rethinking the design of the lightweight vehicle. To accomplish these goals the industry has begun vehicle redesign from the ground up, focusing on new lightweight materials, aerodynamics and powertrain options. Because of vehicle design changes, new and innovative manufacturing methods are on the horizon. Vehicle designs do not require traditional painting methods for the corrosion protection layer or topcoat. One option for consideration is UV and EB technology as it has shown improved environmental impact, lower facility costs and decreased footprint vs. traditional paint shops. The assumptions in this study will look at vehicle manufacturing where the final vehicle class A body parts are mounted in final assembly. Paint Shops are off-site from traditional assembly sites eliminating the automakers body and paint assembly.
UV Curing Applications for the Automotive Industry: Past, Present, and Future
Kevin Joesel, Heraeus Noblelight America LLC
UV curing processes are very diverse with unique challenges. The presentation will review a variety of UV curing processes that are in use and were under development. UV curing processes have been used by Tier 1 manufacturers for over 25 years. The applications include automotive headlamps, primers for composite body panels, post-curing of films applied to interior parts, and others. Development applications included full-body clearcoats first demonstrated in 2003.
Weathering and Corrosion Testing in the Automotive Industry: An Overview of Todays Requirements
Sean Fowler, Q-Lab Corporation
Throughout the history of weathering and corrosion testing, the automotive industry has been at the forefront of innovation, and this trend has held true in recent years. In weathering, the SAE weathering standards from the 1980s were modernized, and this development was a stepping stone to the creation of a completely new standard, ASTM D7869. This new standard is in use by Ford for automotive exterior materials and is being investigated by several other automotive OEMs. This presentation will describe the differences between it and the previous generation of weathering standards, with an emphasis on the new requirements for test laboratories. The good news is that these innovations have lowered testing costs for laboratories and suppliers. Corrosion testing has undergone a slightly different path, with each OEM independently developing new tests with significantly different requirements compared to earlier standards. Some OEMs have retired the traditional salt fog test while others have supplemented it with precisely controlled environmental cycling. Yet, common elements and requirements have emerged despite this diversity. This presentation will examine the latest corrosion test requirements and discuss some of the challenges laboratories face in meeting them.
New Nanosilica Polyether UV-Curable Resins for Automotive Applications
Ziniu Yu, BASF Corporation
In automotive applications, the use of ultraviolet (UV) curable coatings has steadily increased. Compared with waterborne and solventborne coatings, UV coatings offer significant processing-related advantages, such as reduced cycle times and the elimination of both the pot life issue and the need to flash the coating. In addition, viscosity of UV coating formulations can be adjusted by adding acrylate monomers (reactive diluents), making the UV coatings adaptable for various processing requirements. These formulations typically are ultra-low VOC and cure is instantaneous with great durability, appearance, chemical resistance and mechanical properties. In this presentation, we will discuss a new nanosilica polyether UV curable resin, which offers excellent resistance to scratching with good chemical resistance and enhanced hardness. Also, the new UV resin showed good compatibility to other UV monomers and provided good adhesion to plastic substrates, such as Poly Carbonate (PC). These attributes make this new nanosilica polyether UV resin a good fit for automotive interior and exterior applications.
UV + PVD: Performance and Design Solutions for the Automotive Industry
Eileen Weber, Red Spot Paint & Varnish Co. Inc.
There has long been an interest in alternatives to electroplated chrome. Color and appearance affects are limited with traditional chrome electroplating and successful paint-on-chrome applications can be expensive and highly proprietary. Collectively several markets, including automotive, are actively searching for an alternative with the appearance and durability of electroplating – but without the environmental side effects, appearance limitations and costs associated with this decades-old process. As development of UV curable coatings for PVD has progressed, so has the understanding of the PVD process and its unique capabilities and applications. Color and appearance enhancements for chrome-look parts can be achieved in many economical ways to include metal layering and tinted UV topcoats. Additionally, the technology can offer unique functional designs not possible with traditional electroplated chrome. This presentation will provide a synopsis of PVD in the marketplace: summarize the challenges associated with developing durable coatings for PVD applications, offer an explanation of how the UV and PVD materials are applied, explore the advantages that the UV/PVD decorative process encompasses and offer examples of targeted end applications.
Enhanced Corrosion Performance and Finishing Productivity for Automobile and Truck Components: Henkel Bonderite M-PP 966 Coating Used with Keyland Polymer Ultraviolet (UV) Cured Powder Coatings
Todd Coggins, Henkel Corporation, and Michael Knoblauch, Keyland Polymer UV Powder
Bonderite M-PP 966 coating has achieved high levels of performance on Neutral Salt Spray (NSS) testing and automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) cyclic corrosion tests. This epoxy-acrylic urethane coating has excellent thermal stability, topcoatability, edge protection and flexibility while maintaining a low-cure temperature. Bonderite M-PP 966, when used in combination with Keyland Polymers UV-cured powder coatings, offers the end user high levels of corrosion and finish performance, significant energy, plant footprint and resource savings, and increased productivity. This presentation will illustrate and demonstrate the performance attributes of each material and the synergistic process benefits when they are used in combination.
EB Industry
Anthony Carignano, eBeam Technologies
For more information and to register for the conference, visit www.wcx17.org.
