Aesthetics and comfort in automotive interiors
The cabin presents automobile manufacturers ample design opportunities. This is due in no small part to the performance of modern coatings, which can be tailored to a diverse range of requirements. The broad range of raw materials offered by Bayer MaterialScience helps to turn ideas into reality.
A key focus with waterborne coatings is the slight amounts of organic solvents that either are present as a result of the production process or were added to the coatings to improve adhesion. “Our latest generation of waterborne Bayhydrol® polyurethane dispersions do not require these cosolvents. Nor are they required for coating formulation – corresponding starting formulations are available,” says Dr. Jan Weikard of Bayer MaterialScience. He belongs to a team of coatings experts presenting the polyurethane and polyacrylic dispersions at the European Coatings Show.
Weikard is convinced the demand for waterborne coating raw materials will continue to rise. In many cases, their properties are now superior to those of solventborne coatings.
The Bayer MaterialScience team is presenting the product Bayhydrol® A 2845 XP to the market for the first time at the trade fair in Nuremberg. Coatings based on this polyacrylic dispersion are particularly resistant to sunscreens and other chemicals. They also exhibit high gloss and tend not to yellow, not even through exposure to heat and light. “The new dispersion is thus very well suited for single-coat or two-coat decorative finishes,” says Uwe Klippert, a plastics coatings expert at Bayer MaterialScience. Formulators can combine the product with polyurethane dispersions to precisely adjust the flexibility and adhesion of the resulting coatings.
Whereas the primary consideration with decorative finishes is the appearance, soft-touch coatings give plastics a surface that is soft, warm and pleasant to the touch. It is typically polyurethane dispersions that are responsible for the special haptic effects. The waterborne dispersions Bayhydrol® U XP 2698 and Bayhydrol® U XP 2757 are the perfect raw materials for this. “The automobile industry is already using them in volume production,” says Klippert. However, the Bayhydrol® portfolio also includes something for anyone looking for a particularly cost-effective alternative representing a good compromise in terms of haptic impression and resistance. The acrylic component Bayhydrol® A 2227/1 and the polyurethane dispersion Bayhydrol® U 2841 XP can be combined to formulate single-coat comfort coatings that satisfy the exacting requirements of the automobile manufacturers. Bayhydrol® A 2227/1 is responsible for the resistance and good adhesion, the other product for feel and flexibility.
