Study of the Durability and Aesthetical Properties of Powder Coatings Admixed with Pearlescent Pigments

Stefano Rossi,Francesca Russo,Lotfi Bouchakour Rahmani

doi:10.3390/coatings10030229

Abstract

Powder coatings are commonly used to protect metallic substrates because of their good protection properties together with their aesthetical ones. In this work, the aesthetic and functional properties of powder coatings admixed with pearlescent pigments were investigated. The main aim of this work is represented by the evaluation of the coating properties and their change assessment after accelerated ageing treatments, such as UV and salt spray exposure. Changes in gloss, color and roughness were recorded before, during, and after UVA and UVB exposure. All the samples showed good resistance to UVA irradiation, whereas UVB light caused a huge variation in surface properties. Further insights on the degradation of the polymeric matrix were gained by exploiting FT-IR analyses, which could be correlated to the change of color. The protection properties of the coating were assessed by exploiting an acetic salt spray test. All the samples showed good resistance to aggressive environments, and no pigment effect on the degradation of the coatings could be detected.

Highlights

Nowadays, the main challenge of materials engineering is the modification of the surface characteristics of a substrate in order to improve its functional properties for high duty technological applications
This work examined the effect of five different pearlescent pigment types on standard powder coatings
The coatings’ aesthetical and protective property changes were analysed as a consequence of accelerated ageing testing

Summary

Introduction

The main challenge of materials engineering is the modification of the surface characteristics of a substrate in order to improve its functional properties for high duty technological applications. The development of a coating has increasingly focused on finding materials with surprising functional properties that had good perceptive and aesthetical characteristics [1]. In this context, organic coatings are employed to guarantee the good protection of metal products, combining a high sustainability of the industrial deposition process [1] with the possibility of obtaining a high variety of surface aesthetic effects. The industrial research on pigments has recently focused on three main roads: the economization of already existing pigments, the discovery and development of inorganic pigments with better performance features, and the replacement of some toxic and non-ecological chemical substances in order to be in compliance with new national and international regulations [6,7]

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