Preventing Films from Marking Powder Coated Surfaces

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Preventing Films from Marking Powder Coated Surfaces
Lignin is a natural broad-spectrum sun blocker due to its UV-absorbing functional groups, e.g., phenol units. UV absorbers can protect materials such as paints and plastic from sun damage.
Richard Venditti, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA, and colleagues have developed sustainable, biodegradable, and transparent cellulose-lignin films that absorb UV radiation. The team functionalized cellulose with azide groups and lignin with propargyl groups and used a copper-catalyzed click reaction to form covalent bonds between them. They added between 0.5 wt% and 2 wt% lignin to the cellulose. The team cast the solution of the bonded product onto glass plates to produce the cellulose-lignin films.
The films are transparent in the visible region of the spectrum, are flexible, and remain stable up to temperatures of 120 °C. They are prepared from renewable resources and have good UV protection properties. The material with 2 wt% lignin blocks 100 % of UV-B rays and over 90 % of UV-A rays.
Newly developed space instruments are increasingly efficient and accurate. One of the main drawbacks is that they are consequently more and more sensitive to contamination. Once integrated, optics are continuously exposed to cleanroom environment. Most of the time, cleaning operations are risky or even impossible considering coatings fragility or accessibility constraints. Thus even in cleanrooms, with the use of specific covers and/or the implementation of purging, inducing altogether stringent operational constraints, molecular and particulate contamination deposition appears to be unavoidable. Hence, the use of a windshield film on the most critical optics during manufacturing assembly and tests would allow a significant reduction of the overall contamination levels or the release of the operational constraints to reach the same cleanliness target. This study presents the results obtained in the frame of a test campaign aiming at identifying and evaluating the most promising protection films (including varnishes, adhesive tapes and electrostatic films) dedicated to space instruments optics. Impacts on both molecular and particulate contamination were investigated together with associated effects on protected substrates (aspect, spectral properties, …). The best solution has been qualified at Airbus and is currently implemented on flight hardware.
NEW YORK, July 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Paint Protection Film Market is forecasted to reach USD 461.7 Million by 2027. Paint safety film is a thermoplastic coating that cures when added to painted surfaces. The product is commonly used in the automotive industry to cover certain parts that are more vulnerable to abrasion or harm. Paint safety film is used in various parts of the vehicle, such as a door panel, bonnet, front bumper, rear bumper, side panel, side skirt, etc. The product prevents the car from soil, wax, mud, bugs, etc. induced by surface stains. It also gives a long period to maintain the vehicle surface to finish flawless. In effect, increasing demand for lightweight automobiles and hybrid cars will boost the market for color safety films in the coming years. Improvement in the electronic industry would increase the growth in the market size of paint safety film due to its usage in different electronic equipment such as mobile phones, LED displays, household appliances, etc. Consequently, growing development in the consumer electronics business will render the Asia Pacific an essential region in the coming years.

The sector of Aerospace & Defense is expected to rise in the coming years at a growing CAGR due to widespread usage of the substance to cover the surfaces of the aircraft. It helps to shield the glass-made pieces from debris, high impact abrasion, and scratches. The material is used both for aircraft interiors and exteriors. In 2018, the operating global commercial fleet was projected at about 26,000 aircraft, which is expected to rise to about 37,000 over the next ten years. Thanks to the involvement of many component suppliers, North America is a significant area in the paint film industry. Another growth enabler on the business will be growing aircraft and vehicle demand in the domain. The U.S. now has more than 3,600 combat aircraft, which, due to its increasing defense expenditure, will increase more in the coming years. Due to its proliferating electronics industry, Asia Pacific is another crucial market with a growing CAGR. As the product is commonly used in the electronics industry to maintain the surface of electrical devices, growing development in this sector in the coming years would result in increased demand for the paint safety window films market.