The Ninth International Coatings for Plastics Symposium and Exhibition was held in Troy, Mich., at the Michigan State Management Education Center on June 5-7, 2006. Twenty-one technical papers were presented, focusing on leading-edge issues in the coatings for plastics arena. Over 130 people attended the event.

A Sunday evening reception kicked off the event, which allowed attendees to network prior to the formal start of the Symposium.

Monday morning's technical session included presentations from Jeff Post, Sustainable Solutions, Inc., on Get Real: The Honesty, Beauty and Integrity of Interior Materials, and How Their Sustainable Value Will Create the Product Design Successes of the Future; Mike Balow, Basel, on Durability of Painted TPO Compositions with Various Elastomeric Structures; Ken Fujino, Nippon Paper Chemicals Co., Ltd., on Waterborne Chlorinated Polyolefin; Effect of Chlorine Content on Resin Thermal Properties and the Resulting Adhesive Strength to TPO Substrates; Dr. Robert Eagan, Eastman Chemical Co., on Development of a Nonchlorinated Waterborne Adhesion Promoter for Polyolefin-Based Substrates; and Dan Burnett, Surface Measurement Systems, on Surface Energy & Adhesion. Dr. Eagan's presentation won the Best Paper Award for the Symposium.

Monday's lunch included a presentation by Mark Lutterbach, Red Spot, on Novel Coating Permits The Use of Powder Primer on SMC. The afternoon session included presentations from Russel Brynolf, FTS Systems, on Effect of 02 Content on Flame Adhesion; Daniel Kaute, PlasmaTreat North America Inc., on Atmospheric Pressure Plasma - Advances in Enabling the Primerless Paint Line of the Future and in Functional Coatings with Plasma Polymerization; Tom Honey, Ford Motor Co., on TPO Peel Strength Adhesion of Alternative Surface Treatments; and Greg Filipowicz, Visteon Co., and Jerome Capozzoli, Automotive Components Holdings, LLC, on Color Harmony.

Tuesday's schedule included the following presentations: Robert Eller, Robert Eller Assoc., on Technologies Challenging Auto Interior Painted Plastic; Dave Hodnett, Mold Tech, on Coating for Injection Molds; Nicole Johnson, Visteon Co., on Effect of Scratch Additives on Painted and Non-Painted Mold-In-Color Polypropylene; Dr. Phil Yaneff, DuPont, on Understanding the Effect of Processing Conditions on the Scratch and Mechanical Behavior of Automotive Plastic Coatings; Bridget Murray, Q-Lab Corporation, on The Right Choice - UV Fluorescent Testing or Xenon Arc Testing? A Comparison of Two Effective Approaches to Accelerated Weathering Testing; Chai Bhat, CIBA Specialty Chemicals, on Surface Tackiness and Scratch Resistant TPOs: Root Cause Analysis; Fred Lewchik, BYK Chemie, on A Novel Concept for Improving Scratch and Abrasion Resistance for Automotive Coatings; Phil Jacoby, Mayzo, on Microporous Oriented Polypropylene Films Made Using Beta Nucleation; and Pat Stoneham, London Development Agency, on EOLV.

Tuesday afternoon's Exhibit and Networking Reception featured exhibits from A.B. Myr Industries, Arkema Inc., Atlas Material Testing Technology LLC, Bayer Material Science, BYK Gardner USA, CIBA Specialty Chemicals, DKSH North America, Dow Chemical Co., Deacom, Inc., DSM NeoResins, Elementis Specialties, Eastman Chemical Co., Fusion UV, PhibroChem, Plasticolors, Inc., Q-Lab Corporation, Quaker Color, Reliable Analysis, Surface Measurement Systems, Taber Industries, and Tego Coating and Ink Additives.

The symposium wrapped up Wednesday with presentations by Kedzie Fernholz, Ford Motor Co., on Film Laminate Performance: Past, Present and Potential for the Future; and Karalyn Mueller, Ford Motor Co., on Automobile Fascias - Balance of Mechanical Properties and Cost.

The International Coatings for Plastics Symposium and Exhibition is organized by Technical Conference Management and is sponsored by Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI) magazine. The organizing committee would like to extend special thanks to the industrial sponsors for this year's event, which included Arkema Inc., DKSH, The Dow Chemical Co., DSM NeoResins, Eastman Chemical Co., Fusion UV Systems, Inc., and PhibroChem.

The papers presented at the symposium are available on CD. Please contact Jessica Kreider at kreiderj@bnpmedia.com for more information. For further details on the 2007 conference, visit the PCI Web site, www.pcimag.com.