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PPG Industries, the world's leading manufacturer of transportation coatings, recently completed a study of consumer opinions regarding the importance of coatings and color as they relate to new car purchases. The goal of the study was to identify premium color consumers who place a large importance on vehicle color, what vehicles they purchase and how satisfied they are with the current color offerings. The internet based study consisted of approximately 1,340 U.S. consumers who have either purchased a new vehicle in the past two years, or are planning to purchase a vehicle within the next two years. Results from this study will be presented and those consumers identified by demographics. Presenter Michael Millar, PPG

A new automated method of making non-contact real-time automotive coating thickness measurements using laser based ultrasound technology [1] is presented. The system is capable of making wet film measurements on any automotive paint material, predicting the resulting cured film build to a precision of ±1.5 μm. Importantly, the measurement does not require an elaborate calibration to determine the film build; the system should therefore be more reliable and simple to maintain. The system was designed with on-line automotive film thickness measurements as a goal and thus is expected to fit into the painting process with minimal difficulty. The future intent is to use this gage in a closed-loop feedback control system.

The painting of today's thermoplastic olefins (TPO) presents a series of new challenges to paint and part suppliers alike. TPO has shown a dramatic increase as an engineering plastic for exterior automotive parts because of its low density, wide range of moduli, excellent appearance when painted, low cost and recyclability. However, in terms of paintability TPO suffers from a number of disadvantages. The issues of adhesion, mar resistance, contamination, pigmentation and air pollution need to be addressed for painters to keep pace with the rapid growth of TPO as a major substrate for automotive parts. This paper will deal with problems encountered in the day to day painting of TPO, how to analyze them, and some suggestions as to corrective action.