Automotive Painting Processes Past & Future

Automotive painting processes - today and
tomorrow
Dr. Michael Hilt

Research Society for Pigments and Coatings
Department Coatings and Pigments
Dr. Michael Hilt, +49 711 970 3820, Automotive painting processes – today and tomorrow 2011-08-22.ppt
Content
 Introduction
 Automotive painting - where does it come from?
 Automotive painting today
 Building blocks for future processes
 Summary
Introduction - Closed chain in painting technology due
to integration of FPL (research institute) into
FRAUNHOFER IPA
Raw Paint Painting technology Coating

materials Painting material Finished surface
 Binders  Adhesion
 Recipies  Substrate
 Pigments  Corrosion
 Dispersion pretreatment
 Additives protection
 Rheology  Application
 Thinners,  Durability
 Colouration  Drying, curing
solvents  Functionality
Introduction - Coating components
Solvents
Paint
Additives
Pigments Binders
Introduction - Topographical classification of coating
properties Top surface properties
 Light reflection
 Hardness
 Scratch resistance
 Surface slip
 Repellent properties
 Erosion resistance
Film/Air Interface
Bulk film properties
Film
 Opacity
 Flexibility
Interface
Film/substrate  Diffusion
Substrate
 Chemical resistance
interface properties
 Water uptake
 Weather resistance
 Adhesion
 Durability
 Anticorrosion
Source: S. K. GOSH, Functional Coatings
Automotive Painting - where does it come from?
 Protection and decoration of wood and steel
 Natural oil resins, alkyd resins
 Protection and decoration of metals
 Nitro cellulose resins

 Nitro cellulose combination resins
 Alkyd melamine resins
 Acrylic melamine resins
 Polymer dispersions
 Epoxy resins
 PU resins
 Protection and decoration of plastics
 See metals (last three)
Automotive Painting - where does it come from? - Ex-
ternal influences on a coated car surface
 Physical influences  Chemical influences
 Mechanics  Fuel, brake fluid, washer fluid …

 Scratches  Care care materials
 Stone chips  Environmental chemicals
 Car care materials  Tree sap
 Abrasion  “Sour" residues
 Bird excrements
 Radiation (sun light)  Other materials (metal dust,
carbon, ...)
 Temperature change
Coating surface
FORSCHUNGSGESELLSCHAFT Dr. Michael Hilt, Automotive OEM Coatings, Process and Materials 2011-05-16.ppt
FÜR PIGMENTE UND LACKE E.V. 7
Automotive painting today - Consumption data
Film build
in µm
Material type Usage in kg on car in kg Relative cost in %
110
100
Clearcoat 2.1 1.0 25
2K-Klarlack
80 Basecoat waterborne 4.0 0.5 25
60 WBL „2“
Primer surfacer 2.5 0.8 15
WBL „1“
WBL
Electrocoat 4.5 3.0 19

40
Wasserfüller
Seam sealing 6.0 6.0 13
20
Wax 1.0 1.0 3
KTL
0
Sum 20.1 12.3 100
Automotive painting today - Cost of car painting
 Main focus
 Improvement or keeping of product quality and performance
 Reduction of process cost

Source:
Automotive painting today - Classical painting process

Online Inline Offline
plastic plastic plastic
parts parts parts
Body Pre- Elec-

Body Baking San-
in treat- tro-
washer oven ding
white ment coat
Primer
Seam Baking Baking San-
surfa-
sealing oven oven ding
cer
San-
Base- Drying Clear- Baking ding,
coat oven coat oven poli-
shing
As-
Spot Body
Wax sem-
repair repair
bly
Automotive painting today - Alternatives for prepro-
cesses - Reasons
 Development of alternative products for zinc phosphating
 Goals
 Lower environmental impact concerning Nickel and phosphate sludge

 Lower process costs
 To be used as multi metal pretreatment
 Constant quality
 Classification of Nickel containing products was further enforced
 Trication phosphating is classified as being carcinogenic

 Change of water relevance for phosphate concentrates from WGK2 to WGK3, for
phosphate bathes from WGK1 to WGK2
 Recommendations of IHO for classification of nickel containing products
 R22 Health risk at swallowing
 R36/38 Irritant for eyes and skin
 R40 (Cat. 3) Irreversible damage possible (carcinogenic effect supposed)
 R42/43 Sensitization due to respiration and skin contact possible
 R50/53 Very poisonous for water organisms
 Concerning the increase in WGK existing facilities do not needed not be changed. This
situation changes, if changes are made which must be approved by the authorities.

cesses - Overview
 CHEMETALL: Oxsilan process
 Thin layers of silanes with intermediate metals
 HENKEL: Bonderite NGC (Tec Talis)
 Thin layers of polymers and zirconium oxides
 PPG: Zircobond process
 Inorganic system with zircon oxide and additives
 All processes can be used for multi metal treatment
cesses - New development Oxsilan (CHEMETALL) (I)
 Spray or dip process  2 min process time
 Solution in DI water  pH ca. 4
 2 products  Tank control: pH, conductivity, material content
 Room temperature
Silane treatment
(Greenfield)
Cleaning Purge Silane Purge
DI purge DI purge
Silan treatment
(Brownfield)
Cleaning Purge Silane Purge Empty
DI purge DI purge
Zink phosphating
as at today
Cleaning Purge Phosphatization Purge
DI purge Passivation
DI purge

cesses - New development Bonderite NGC (HENKEL)
Zinc phosphating
Cleaning Purge Activation Phosphatization DI purge Passivation DI purge
Bonderite NGC process
Cleaning Purge Bonderite DI purge DI purge

NGC
cesses - New development Zircobond (PPG)
Automotive painting today - Electrocoats (I)

 Basic requirements and competitive factors
 Corrosion protection
 Edge protection: Similar deposition on steel, galvanized steel,

Al etc
 High throwing power for inner sections of the body and surface
smoothness at low film builds
 Process reliability
 Contaminant resistance
 No entry markings
 Low consumption in kg
 High under bake tolerance

Source:
Automotive painting today - Technology trends in
preprocesses - Autophoresis
 Currentless deposition of the coating

 Equal film build inside and outside Possible substitute for
 Very good edge coating pretreatment and
 Overpaintable electrocoat, significant
 Autophoreseis is in use worldwide in the process shortening
general industry for steel
 Use for multi metal substrates in process
(Aquence - HENKEL)
Process until now
Cleaning Purge Activation Phosph. Purge Purge CDP Purge Oven
Possible new process

Reactive
Cleaning Purge ACC Purge Oven
purge
Automotive painting today - Technology trends in

preprocesses - Centegra (PPG)
 Substitution of phosphating and electrocoat by fusion of both layers
 Simultaneous electrochemical deposition of an inorganic and an organic layer as corrosion

protection primer
 Process simplification by reduction of single process steps in the preprocess
 Useable for multi metal substrates
 UV stable coating, therefore useable in primer-less paint structures
 Intense research with combinations of intermediate metals and new polymers, in parallel
development of an optimized cleaner system
Organic layer Inorganic layer
 Barrier properties C entegra  Metal reaction

against H2O diffusion  Adhesion to substrate
 Levelling Substrate  Corrosion protection by
 Primer for top coat influence on corrosion
mechanism
Automotive painting today - Primer surfacers
 Basic requirements and competitive factors
 Smoothness (good levelling)
 Stone chip resistance
 Surface hardness for sanding purposes
 Adhesion to CED and topcoat
 UV-protection of CED
 UV-durability
 Contaminant resistance Source:
Automotive painting today - Waterborne basecoats
 Main requirements and competitive factors for effect colours
 Circulation pipe stability
 Reproducible colour and effect
 No mottling
 High smoothness (good levelling)
 High hiding power (low film build)
 No colour fading (weather stability)
 Repairability, inline and in field
 Short flash off
 Clearcoat compatibility
Source:
Automotive painting today - Integrated waterborne
basecoats (I)
Rastatt Seam A-, B-

Pretreat- E-coat Blower/ Slurry Cavity
process sealing WBBC1/2
ment + oven
+ oven
CR + oven prot. class
(since 1996)
Integrated Interme- Interme- A-, B-

process 1 WBBC 1 diate WBBC 2 diate
oven 1 oven 2 class
(IP 1)
Integrated
Mini
Interme-
process 2 WBBC 1 WBBC 2 diate
Oxford,
(IP 2) oven BMW
Spartanb.
Automotive painting today - Integrated waterborne

basecoats (II)
WBBC 1 WBBC 2 WBBC 2
Integrated Interme- Interme-
A-, B-
process 1 O diate I O diate Slurry
(IP 1) E oven 1
P E oven 2 class
today
WBBC 2 WBBC 1 WBBC 2

Integrated Interme-
process 2 I O O diate 2p-clearcoat Technically
(IP 2) Oxford P E P oven implemented
Integrated WBBC 1 WBBC 1 WBBC 2 WBBC 2

Interme-
process 2 I O I O diate 2p-clearcoat Ideal
ideal (IP 2) oven
E E E E
WBBC 1 Material
I, O Inside, Outside
E, P Electrostatic, Pneumatic
Automotive painting today - New colours and new
effects
Automotive painting today - Clearcoats
Source:
Building blocks for future processes - Technology trends
Issue Performance Cost Environment
Ultrathin pretreatment  
Ecoat Pb- and Sn-free 
Ecoat low bake  
Ecoat with reduced weight loss  
Basecoat application 100% ESTA 
Integrated (shorter) processes  
Clearcoat scratch resistant  Source:
Clearcoat UV curable   
Building blocks for future processes - FRAUNHOFER

institute for manufacturing engineering in Stuttgart -
Fields of activity in paint and coating technology
Basics Process chain for coating research and application

Basic research - Application oriented research - Analytics - Services
Coating Coating
Process Coating
materials (process) Coating
chain components
(paint) technology
Education University of Stuttgart

and training Institutes of physics - Chemistry - Manufacturing engineering -
Materials sciences
R&D activities - Drivers for new coating systems
 Novel approaches with organic and/or inorganic

New coating
(nanoscale) coatings and coating components
properties
 Novel corrosion protection coatings
 UV curing clearcoats
Coating curing
 Coatings with reduced curing temperature
New material- und  Optimized multilayer coating systems

coating systems  Bio-based coatings

R&D activities - Novel approaches with organic and/or
inorganic (nanoscale) coatings UV
 Fraunhofer IPA (Stuttgart)
 Self-cleaning coatings on the basis of

UV/IR-reflection (AiF project)
 Self-healing coatings “to cure” mechanical
damages and improve corrosion Controlled
release
prevention (planned project)
FORSCHUNGSGESELLSCHAFT
FÜR PIGMENTE UND LACKE E.V.
 Fraunhofer ISC (Würzburg)
 Photocatalytic coatings for interiors or anti-fogging in headlamps

 Printed coatings for instrument panels or displays
 Thin corrosion protection coatings as Cr(VI) alternative
 Acid resistant easy-to-clean coatings for metallic surfaces
 Abrasion resistant and easy-to-clean coatings for leather
R&D activities - Novel corrosion protection coatings
 Idea: Exploration of potential of nanoscale

corrosion protection pigments for use e.g.
in primer layers with improved corrosion
protection (AiF project)
 Evaluation of self-healing properties and
adhesion of model coatings
 Project supporting board Nanoparticles fill the cavities of the

substrate surface

R&D activities - Optimization of UV-clearcoats
 Idea: Concept development for UV-curing

clearcoats with optimized adhesion, high
weather resistance and optimized scratch
and chemical resistance
 Improved understanding of UV-curing
process concerning kinetics
 Consortium besides public funding
R&D activities - Optimized multi layer coating systems
 Idea: Economic and energy efficient

coating systems for automotive and CC
industrial coatings with reduced number of
layers BC
 Improved understanding of opportunities
and limits of those systems PS
FORSCHUNGSGESELLSCHAFT EC
 Project supporting board

CC
BC Delamination
EC Corrosion

R&D activities - Developments in coating process
technology
Spray coating,  Joint research project „Energy efficient coating

dryer concepts, of car bodies“ (innovation alliance green car
modularisation body technologies)
 Coating of complex plastic parts (project

UV technology
ENSIKOM)
Drying process with  Numeric simulation of the paint drying process

circulating air (project SiLat)
Cleaning of parts  Automated pretreatment with CO2 snow

blasting
R&D activities - Innovation alliance “Green car body
technologies”
 Idea: Reducing energy consumption in
car body manufacturing
 Initiative of German automotive
manufacturers and suppliers as well as
of FRAUNHOFER institutes
Paint shop
Body shop
Press shop
Tool shop Joint research project

„Energy efficient coating of
Semi-finished part: Sheet metal car bodies“

technologies” - “Energy efficient coating of car bodies”
 Involved FRAUNHOFER institutes
 IWU Chemnitz (total coordination)

 IPT Aachen
 IPA Stuttgart (coordination of joint research project “Energy efficient coating
of car bodies” with three subprojects
 Spray coating
 Dryer concepts
 Modularisation
technologies” - “Paint loss free coating methods”
 Idea: Development of overspray free

coating methods
 Drastically reduce energy intensive
disposal activities in paint shops
 Minimization of demand for conditioned
air supply in spray booths
 Eventually use of modified coating Source: Dürr Systems
materials
 Elimination of overspray is the most
effective prerequisite for reducing energy
and material consumption at spray coating
 Subproject partners

technologies” - “New dryer concepts for energy
efficient operation”
 Idea: Plant specific and controllable “energy

on demand” and “energy regeneration”
measures for the optimization of curing areas
 Energy savings up to 30%
Source: Eisenmann
technologies” - “Modular concept for product and
coating”
 Idea: Component optimized concept for

product and painting process
 Multi material substrates

 Reduction of material and energy
consumption in paint shops
 Assembly of finished parts at OEM
Source: Daimler AG

R&D activities - ENSIKOM
 Fraunhofer IPA (Stuttgart) and IFAM (Bremen)
 Idea: Implementation of UV technology for eco-

friendly and economic coating of automotive plastic
parts
 “100%” material transfer efficiency due to

overspray recycling
 Low energy consumption due to UV curing of the
coating
 Assistance by numeric simulation
 UV curing of coating on three dimensional objects

 Monitoring of molecular curing mechanism
 Consortium partners (in total 13)
 Daimler, other end-users, paint and facility manufacturers, institutes
R&D activities - SiLat (simulation of the unsteady
drying of coatings at three dimensional objects)
 Idea: Creating a software to

simulate to forecast the drying of
coatings in continuous dryers
 Prognosis of drying (curing)

kinetics
 Elimination of coating defects by
product specific setting of oven
parameters
 Consortium partners Heating of the car body during the first 5 minutes
 .
 Paint and facility manufacturers, software houses, universities
Building blocks for future processes - New ideas
 Self cleaning surface
 Colour change of car body on demand
 New functionalities in coatings
 Energy collection
 Internal labelling
 Super durability of coatings
 Fully automated processes (no touch, no repair)
 …
Summary
 Automotive painting materials and processes are continuously

changing
 Actually dramatic change due to simultaneous change in

preprocesses and in primer/basecoats
 New ideas will continuously change the appearance and optimize the
functionality of the coated products
 Intelligent coating systems will offer new perspectives for coated

surfaces by implementation of smart functionalities
 Coating processes will have to follow the needs according to the

megatrends and the changing substrates: Improvements in economy,
in ecology and sustainability and implementation of new functionalities
for improved customer satisfaction

Automotive Painting Processes Past & Future

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Automotive painting processes - today and

Dr. Michael Hilt

 Automotive painting - where does it come from?

 Automotive painting today

 Building blocks for future processes

Raw Paint Painting technology Coating

Introduction - Coating components

Automotive Painting - where does it come from?

 Protection and decoration of wood and steel

 Natural oil resins, alkyd resins

 Protection and decoration of metals

 Nitro cellulose resins

 Protection and decoration of plastics

 See metals (last three)

 Mechanics  Fuel, brake fluid, washer fluid …

Automotive painting today - Consumption data

Electrocoat 4.5 3.0 19

Sum 20.1 12.3 100

 Improvement or keeping of product quality and performance

 Reduction of process cost

Automotive painting today - Classical painting process

Body Pre- Elec-

 Lower environmental impact concerning Nickel and phosphate sludge

 Classification of Nickel containing products was further enforced

 Trication phosphating is classified as being carcinogenic

Automotive painting today - Alternatives for prepro-

 Thin layers of silanes with intermediate metals

 HENKEL: Bonderite NGC (Tec Talis)

 Thin layers of polymers and zirconium oxides

 PPG: Zircobond process

 Inorganic system with zircon oxide and additives

 All processes can be used for multi metal treatment

Automotive painting today - Alternatives for prepro-

Cleaning Purge Activation Phosphatization DI purge Passivation DI purge

Bonderite NGC process

Cleaning Purge Bonderite DI purge DI purge

Automotive painting today - Electrocoats (I)

 Edge protection: Similar deposition on steel, galvanized steel,

 High under bake tolerance

 Currentless deposition of the coating

Process until now

Cleaning Purge Activation Phosph. Purge Purge CDP Purge Oven

Possible new process

Automotive painting today - Technology trends in

 Simultaneous electrochemical deposition of an inorganic and an organic layer as corrosion

 Process simplification by reduction of single process steps in the preprocess

 Useable for multi metal substrates

 UV stable coating, therefore useable in primer-less paint structures

Organic layer Inorganic layer

 Barrier properties C entegra  Metal reaction

 Smoothness (good levelling)

 Stone chip resistance

 Surface hardness for sanding purposes

 Adhesion to CED and topcoat

 Contaminant resistance Source:

Automotive painting today - Waterborne basecoats

 Main requirements and competitive factors for effect colours

Rastatt Seam A-, B-

Integrated Interme- Interme- A-, B-

Automotive painting today - Integrated waterborne

WBBC 2 WBBC 1 WBBC 2

Integrated WBBC 1 WBBC 1 WBBC 2 WBBC 2

Automotive painting today - Clearcoats