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The recent inclusion of painted plastic fascias/bumpers into automotive applications has necessitated the evaluation of potential in-service damagability. One failure mode that has been identified, that of friction-induced paint/substrate damage, has been simulated in a laboratory environment. Our goal was to evaluate the effects of coating attributes, both thermal and mechanical, on subsequent performance of painted thermoplastic olefin (TPO) materials. It was determined that the most significant parameters in the paint which contributed to damage were the glass transition temperature, the secant modulus at break, and the static coefficient of friction. This paper will discuss techniques and results used to reach these findings.

Erosion damage to automotive car bodies caused by stones and small sand particles and road debris significantly affects the appearance of paint. Painted engineering plastics as well as precoated sheet steel are affected by erosion phenomenon. Erosion of painted plastic substrates results in cosmetic concerns while that on metal substrates results in cosmetic to perforation corrosion. This work describes a laboratory simulation of erosion of painted plastic substrates by small particles on various paint and substrate types. Gloss loss was used to quantitatively evaluate erosion of painted surfaces. Wear behavior of painted plastic substrates to slag sand impact was evaluated as a function of several variables including paint type (one-component melamine crosslinked (1K) vs. two-component isocyanate crosslinked (2K)), thermal history, and coating modulus. The effect of slag sand type (particle size and chemical composition) was studied.