TITLE:
The Effect of Detergents on the Appearance of Automotive Clearcoat Systems Studied in an Outdoor Weathering Test
AUTHORS:
Mohammad S. Alsoufi, Tahani M. Bawazeer, Mohammed W. Alhazmi, Sufyan Azam
KEYWORDS:
Automotive, Clearcoat, Surface Roughness, Micro-Hardness
JOURNAL NAME:
Materials Sciences and Applications,
Vol.8 No.7,
July
3,
2017
ABSTRACT: The ability to predict the weathering performance of
the clearcoat system over a short period of time is essential for the design
and development of coating production. Thus, the primary objective of the
present study is to investigate whether it is possible to predict the
weathering performance of an automotive paint system through determination of
surface roughness, Ra, and micro-hardness before and after various weathering
exposure times (0, 24, 168, 336, 504, 672 hours) and when employing two
different detergent materials (house-use detergent and car wash detergent). The
data were analysed using a pair-sample t-Test, with 0.05 level of
significance. It was found that the total net of degradation in the clearcoat
level during the first 24 hours was Ra ≈ 30.3 nm (for surface
roughness) and 1.358 HV (for the μ-hardness) when using the house-use
detergent. In contrast, it was found to be Ra ≈ 4.6 nm (for
surface roughness) and 1.133 HV (for μ-hardness) when using the car wash
detergent. Also, increased time of weathering (up to 672 hours) increases the Ra and μ-hardness values. It can therefore be concluded that the effect of
house-use detergent was more severe than that of car wash detergent on the
clearcoat system.