Processing and Weathering of Sol-Gel Clearcoats for Coil-Coated Steel

Clearcoats provide long-term aesthetics and protection for underlying coating systems, increasing product lifetimes. However, organic clearcoats are predominantly produced using fossil-fuel feedstocks. In search of a sustainable alternative, an experimental investigation was conducted on the development glass-like sol-gel process. The processing over pigmented polyurethane studied by modifying solution pH, ageing, curing, precursor chemistry deposition techniques. Under optimal formulation conditions, defect-free were that have potential to be scaled up coil-coating line existing technologies. Mechanical testing demonstrated coatings had excellent adhesion, hardness, flexibility. Furthermore, accelerated laboratory weathering tests revealed superior degradation resistance compared tested, resulting in negligible colour changes higher gloss retention after 4000 h exposure. durability environmental benefits highlight their as replacement traditional variety applications.