Automotive OEM coatings

The automotive OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) sector is one of the easiest paint subsectors to define, and is arguably the one with the highest public profile it includes all paints applied to the vehicle body shell in the paint shop of the manufacturer s production line. It does not include parts painted offline (e.g. plastic components, underbody or trim parts) or refinish items. The sector is dominated by car and light vans both in terms of unit volume production and paint tonnage used other commercial vehicles only account for about 15% of European automotive coating use the percentage is similar in the USA. 

The auto OEM sector is characterised by having both a small number of end users (car companies) and an even smaller number of paint suppliers 90% of paint is supplied from four companies in Europe and only three in the USA. Japan is the largest consumer of automotive coatings, accounting for one-third of worldwide production from only two major paint suppliers. 

The second coat applied is the primer surfacer. This is designed to hide minor surface imperfections from the pressing and assembly processes and to provide a good surface to show the colour coats to their best effect. These systems have traditionally been solvent based (mainly xylene and butanol with small amounts of glycol ether tail solvents) but water-based systems are also used, particularly in Europe. The primer surfacer is applied to the side and upper outer body panels. An anti-chip primer is alternatively applied to the lower sill areas. 

Estimates of European and US solvent use (ktpa) in automotive OEM coatings are shown in Table 8.3. 

These figures include the use of paints, cleaning solvents and solvents used in anticorrosion waxes (predominantly hydrocarbons). The market size for automotive OEM paints alone (electrocoat, primers and all colour-coat systems) is approximately 260 ktpa in Europe and 210 ktpa in the USA. 

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Uses Photoinitiator to cure pigmented UV-curabie systems such as inks and coatings inci. aerospace coatings, automotive OEM coatings, automotive piastic parts coatings, automotive refinish coatings, commerciai vehicie coatings... 

Uses Crossiinking agent in automotive OEM coatings Properties APHA 50 max. coior dens. 1.05 kg/dm vise. 7.0-11 Pa s flash pt. 41 C 69-73% NV Setyrene 13-1405 [Akzo Nobel Resins]... 

Uses Thixotrope for paints/coatings, automotive OEM coatings Properties Off-wh. powd. insol. in water sp.gr. 0.99 dens. 8.25 Ib/gal Thixatrol ST [Elementis Spec. U.S.]... 

SILIKQPHEN P 60/D SILIKQPHEN P 70/MPA SILIKQPHEN P 80/20 conosion inhibitor, automotive OEM coatings... 

The metal-packaging sector shares a similarity with the automotive OEM coatings sector in having both a small number of coating suppliers and end users. In Europe 90% of paint is supplied by five companies, while only four account for nearly 95% in the USA. The USA accounts for over 40% of the world s metal packaging coatings, which reflects the large US demand for B B containers. 

Electrophoretic coatings are similar to those used and described in section 8.2 on automotive OEM coatings. Metallic (conductive) substrates are essential if this technique is to be used successfully. Water is obviously the main solvent to achieve the degree of conductivity needed, but significant quantities of solvents such as the glycol ethers are needed to solubilise the resins used and to produce the quality of film finish required. 

Automotive OEM coatings are thermosetting coatings, i.e. a chemically crosslinked matrix is formed between the main resin molecules. This matrix cannot be returned to its original form by use of solvent or heat. 

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