Consumers love metallic coatings on their vehicles, and the popularity of effect pigments offering these unique colors continues to grow. Meeting consumer demand for new effects is a continual challenge, sometimes exacerbated by environmental and processing influences. This paper will discuss some of the hurdles faced by both aluminum pigment and coatings manufacturers in their quest to deliver tomorrow's metallic coatings.
Over the last several decades, two key areas have created the highest hurdles for new aluminum flake development: environmental compliance and coating systems efficiency initiatives (cost savings). The days of low-solids lacquers, exhausting nearly 80% of their volume to the air, are long gone. And not only have we seen the demise of low-solids formulations, but also the introduction of application methods so efficient that nearly all of the paint is attracted to the substrate, resulting in little overspray. While these changes have been very beneficial to the environment in nearly all cases, they have proven very challenging to metallic coating appearance.