The automotive paint industry is strictly regulated and producers of automotive paints need to meet strict guidelines for their paints in terms of viscosity, gloss, corrosion protection and importantly colour. The colour and surface appearance of a vehicle not only gives a sense of quality but also portrays a message about the style and character of the driver. Car manufacturers all want their vehicles to have a unique colour or glossy effect. This can be controlled with objective colour measurement.
Automotive paints are comprised generally of a primer, base coat and clear coat. Each of these coatings serve a different purpose and can influence the way a vehicle looks. Primer is use to protect the car from UV, heat, moisture and corrosion. The primer also helps the base coats bind to the vehicle and covers any surface defects. The base coat is applied to give a vehicle it’s unique colour, appearance or surface effects. This visual element of an automotive paint is important to manage as it is the first noticeable element of a cars appearance. Some of the base coat effects include solid colours, metallic paints, and pearlescent effects.
Challenges arise in the automotive paint industry at a number of stages from production of the paint to the application on the vehicle, each can be solved with objective colour measurement.
Objective colour measurement can assist with the following in the Automotive Paint industry:
- Measuring the colour of automotive paints for consistency and quality control
- Measuring the hiding power of an automotive paint
- Identify adulteration or contamination of pigments and paints
- Manage the paint application process
- Measure the surface appearance effects like gloss, shade, opacity, orange peel etc.
- Match paint colour across the entire vehicle
- Fomulate and predict new colours
Contact us to discuss which instruments will be suitable for your requirements.
