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ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE, NO VOC AUTOMOTIVE COATING - PHASE II
Description:
The EPA recognizes that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) must be eliminated from automotive coating formulations to improve worker safety and reduce environmental pollution. The phase I project resulted in the production of a polymer-based coating material that was clear, colorless, low enough in viscosity to be spray-coated, 100% reactive, and contained no VOCs. Catalyzed oligomers applied via hand coating to primed steel test panels solidified during a 24-hour RT cure cycle and were postcured at 100oC for 24 hours to form hard, tough, tenacious coatings. Independent tests indicated that coatings on primed steel test panels postcured at 100oC passed the pencil hardness, dry tape adhesion, wet tape adhesion, water-resistance, solvent-resistance, and percent gloss tests. These results clearly indicated the feasibility of a new and environmentally safe, automotive coating that contains no VOCs.
Phase II efforts will refine the no VOC coating formulation and process and scale up to larger production quantities. Larger, more complex coated test panels and prototype automotive structures will be produced for extensive testing at Foster-Miller, Sherwin-Williams, and General Motors. The committed Phase II involvement of major chemical suppliers and automobile paint manufacturers will encourage rapid commercialization of this highly needed technology. This new coating also could be used as a topcoat for aircraft, ships, building structures, electronics equipment, indoor furniture, and industrial equipment.