This article provides a discussion on polyester coating applications such as powder coatings, can coatings, and automotive paints. It includes an overview, structure, properties, and benefits of vinyl ester resins. The article discusses the additives for both unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester coatings, namely, curing systems, thixotropic agents and fillers. It exemplifies polyester and vinyl ester coating, lining and flooring systems that are used for top-to-bottom protection of industrial plants and equipment. The article also highlights the concerns to be addressed when using polyesters and vinyl esters.

The sheet alloys 6009 and 6010 fill the need for materials that would be formed in the soft T4 temper and age harden during the automotive paint-bake cycle. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of these 6xxx series alloys.

This article discusses the commonly encountered forms of automotive body corrosion. The corrosion forms include general or uniform corrosion, cosmetic or under-film corrosion, galvanic corrosion, crevice corrosion, poultice or under-deposit corrosion, and pitting corrosion. Corrosion-resistant sheet metals, such as electrogalvanized steel, hot dip galvanized steel, and hot dip galvannealed steel, are reviewed. The article provides information on the paint and sealant systems for corrosion control in automotive body applications.

The automotive sheet alloy 6022 provides improved corrosion resistance, higher formability, and greater strength for dent resistance after thermal exposure compared with other automotive sheet alloys. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of this 6xxx series alloy.

This article describes elastomeric coatings that are suitable for painting flexible plastic substrates. It focuses on coatings systems that find utility in automotive exterior applications, where the requirements of appearance and durability are most severe. The article discusses acrylic polyols, condensation polymers, vapor curing systems, water-based coatings, and coatings for thermoplastic olefins.

This article provides an overview of the principle forms of corrosion that can occur on automotive aluminum components and offers general guidelines on how best to avoid these situations. It discusses the most common forms of aluminum corrosion such as stress-induced corrosion, cosmetic corrosion, crevice corrosion, and galvanic corrosion.

Steel sheet is often coated in coil form prior to fabrication to save time, reduce production costs, and streamline operations. This article examines the most common precoating methods and provides a metallurgical understanding of how they impact the manufacturability, performance, and service life of the host material. The article covers metallic coatings, including zinc, aluminum, zinc-aluminum alloys, tin, and terne; pretreatment or phosphate coatings; and preprimed and painted finishes based on organic coatings.

This article focuses on technologies in the protective coatings field, namely, polysiloxane hybrids and related materials. Industrial maintenance topcoats, including silicone alkyds, silicone epoxies, and polysiloxanes are reviewed. The article discusses two major application areas of protective coatings, namely, architectural coatings and automotive clear coats.

Complete vehicle accelerated corrosion testing on the proving ground is a mandatory testing tool among vehicle manufacturers around the globe. This article focuses on creating some awareness of the difficulty in applying reliable corrosion tests for all corrosion-sensitive automotive systems at once. It describes the various factors for a complete vehicle testing, including wear from road grit, dirt, salt load, elevated temperatures, and mechanical effects such as chafing and fretting. The article discusses the four main test blocks, namely, driving sequence on various proving ground tracks, exposure of the vehicle in one or more ways to road deicing salts, static exposure to forced climatic conditions, and additional elements such as operating the mechanical systems of the vehicle, car washes, and so forth. It concludes with information on the major advantages and drawbacks of a full-service-life test.

This article presents an overview of the different types of coating and lining materials available. It provides information on the various means of surface preparation and the equipment and techniques of coating application. The article discusses the coatings industry's response to the enacted as well as proposed legislation of limiting the use of potentially harmful or toxic raw materials or surface preparation and/or application techniques. The article summarizes the existing federal regulations affecting the coatings industry categorized according to the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well as the corresponding Code of Federal Regulation numbers.

This article focuses on alternatives to chromium in both hard chromium plating and chromate conversion coating. These include electroless nickel plating, nickel-tungsten composite electroplating, spray coating applications, and cobalt/molybdenum-base conversion coating. The article discusses the material and process substitutions that can be used to eliminate the use or emissions of chromium in industrial processes. It describes the physical characteristics of each coating, economics, environmental impacts, advantages, and disadvantages of alternative processes.

A wide variety of stop-off technologies for heat treatment are used to selectively prevent the diffusion of carbon and/or nitrogen during atmosphere carburizing, carbonitriding, vacuum carburizing, and various forms of nitriding. In addition to selective stop-off, technologies are also available for scale prevention in open-fired furnaces. This article describes two stop-off technologies, mechanical masking and copper plating, along with stop-off paints/compounds. Prior to the application of stop-off paints, the part surface of the furnaces should be properly cleaned and dried. The article also describes the usage of stop-off paints in different heat treating processes, namely, carburizing and carbonitriding, deep carburizing, vacuum carburizing, nitriding and nitrocarburizing, and plasma nitriding. The article concludes by reviewing the application methods of stop-off paints: brushing, dipping, dispensing, spraying and stamping.

This article presents a discussion on the U.S army's position on corrosion control for wheeled tactical vehicles. It addresses the army requirement for corrosion control. The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) defines the corrosion prevention and control requirements in the procurement document. The article summarizes requirements from a procurement document. As required by the procurement contract, corrosion-control technologies used in a vehicle system need to be evaluated to determine their benefit. The article provides information on testing systems, which help to meet the army's needs. It includes information on supplemental corrosion protection, which improves the corrosion resistance of a material.

There are various coating techniques in practice to prevent the deterioration of steels. This article focuses on dip, barrier, and chemical conversion coatings and describes hot-dip processes for coating carbon steels with zinc, aluminum, lead-tin, and other alloys. It describes continuous electrodeposition for steel strip and babbitting and discusses phosphate and chromate conversion coatings as well. It also addresses painting, discussing types and selection, surface preparation, and application methods. In addition, the article describes rust-preventive compounds and their application. It also provides information on weld-overlay and thermal spray coating, porcelain enameling, and the preparation of enamel frits for steels. The article closes by describing methods and materials for ceramic coating.

This article describes the characteristics of zinc-rich coatings that can be subcategorized according to the type of binder material used. It discusses the formulations of zinc-rich coatings with organic binders. The three major groups of inorganic zinc-rich coatings categorized by the Society for Protective Coatings are also discussed. These include postcured water-based alkali metal silicates, self-cured water-based alkali metal silicates, and self-cured solvent-based alkyl silicates. The article concludes with information on comparisons of inorganic with organic zinc-rich coatings.

This article focuses on the various coatings used on Department of Defense (DoD) systems. These include electroplated coatings; conversion coatings; supplemental oils, waxes, and lubricants; organic paint coatings; and other finishes such as vacuum deposits, mechanical plating, thermal spray coatings, and hot-dip coatings. The article also lists the test requirements and time to failure of the coatings.

This article describes the paint systems generally used to protect steel structures, steel sheet, and bridges from corrosion, and how they deter corrosion. It provides a discussion on the basic design criteria of steel structures for corrosion protection. The article also explains the differences between prepaint and postpaint, and the steps involved in prepaint processing of steel. It presents the selection guideline for paint system evaluation. The advantages of corrosion protection are also discussed.

This article discusses the applications and use of salt spray (fog) testing used to test the resistance of aluminum alloys to exfoliation corrosion. There are two basic types of salt-spray/fog corrosion tests: static condition tests and cyclic condition tests. The article provides a discussion of these tests and indicates the significant differences in each type test used in the combination of weathering and corrosion testing procedures. It also provides information on the test specimen preparation for spray (fog) corrosion tests. Industry specific standards for test specimen procedures often reference the ASTM standards as a basis. The article includes various ASTM standards that describe several cleaning procedures used prior to testing. It describes the major components of a corrosion test chamber.

Painting is a generic term for the application of a thin organic coating to the surface of a material for decorative, protective, or functional purposes. This article provides a detailed account of the types and selection factors of paints and the various application methods, including conventional air atomized, airless, and electrostatic spray; roller coating; dip coating; flow coating; curtain coating; tumble coating; electrocoating; and powder coating. Surface preparation methods and prepaint treatments for coating systems are also discussed. The article includes information on quality control procedures, causes of paint film defects, cost calculation, and safety and environmental precautions. The composition and characteristics of organic coatings, coating system selection factors, the types of paints for structural steel, and the applications of paint on structural steel are also reviewed.