AUTOMOTIVE COATINGS
An automotive coating, a layer just 0.1 mm thick, has the important role of preserving the vehicle body for an extended period under severe conditions and maintaining its aesthetics. The auto industry continually adopts the latest state-of-the-art coating technologies.
Only five paint makers around the world are capable of delivering the high-quality coatings automakers demand. We hold the leading market position in Japan and in Asia, including India and China, and rank third worldwide.
We aim to continue leveraging our outstanding technologies, including dispersion, resin synthesis, and design technologies, to develop coatings that meet the design, finish, durability, and per-vehicle coating cost requirements automakers demand.
New vehicle body coatings
Bare vehicle surfaces lead to rapid corrosion and degradation, eventually affecting safety, as well as cosmetic damage.
A new vehicle body typically has three to five coatings. These include the undercoat, applied by electrodeposition, a middle coat, and a top coat. Combined, these layers measure just 0.1 mm thick. Nevertheless, this ultrathin coating provides long-term protection for the body under harsh conditions while also giving the vehicle an attractive color and a luxurious look.
Coatings play a vital role in preserving vehicle quality and appearance.
Undercoat (electrodeposition coating)
This layer is formed by dipping the vehicle in water-soluble electrodeposited coating, thoroughly coating the body inside and out to protect the sheet metal against corrosion over the long term.
Middle coat
This layer gives the coating a smooth finish, blocks out UV rays, and confers chip-resistant properties to absorb the impact of pebbles thrown up while driving, and suppresses sheet metal exposure.
Top coat (color base)
This layer combines materials such as pigments, aluminum, and pearl to confer attractive color and prevent wear due to direct sunlight exposure.
Top coat (clear coat)
This layer absorbs wavelengths of sunlight that can degrade the coating while creating a luxurious looking surface. This layer must resist the wear associated with outdoor use, impact of acid rain, and random bumps and abrasion.
Paint for plastic parts
A vehicle uses numerous plastic parts on components like bumpers, door mirrors, and spoilers. To provide these parts with the same protection against harsh conditions that the body must endure, automakers choose paints and coatings suited to each plastic material.
Aluminum wheel paints
Aluminum is susceptible to a form of corrosion known as white rust. For this reason, aluminum wheels are given several coatings for a metallic shine.
Automotive color design
Automotive color design requires an understanding of the vehicle model concept and highly artistic sensibility to express this design through color.
It involves creating new colors through the optimal combination of pigments and metallic and other lustrous powder materials based on a thorough understanding of material properties.
Vehicle coatings have more than cosmetic functions. In addition to maintaining visual appeal, they must protect the vehicle over its whole life. We create beautiful new colors using pigment properties, optical properties, and the distinctive colors of various materials for coatings that resist mixing during painting processes, color fading, and peeling due to exposure to sunlight.
Functional materials
From factory shipment to delivery to user, Wrap Guard film protects vehicle coatings from damage caused by wind, rain, sand and other external factors.
Wrap Guard film is produced using a special nonpolluting film that decomposes to water and carbon dioxide when burned, and a nonpolluting adhesive.
Wrap Guard must stick when necessary but be easily removed when no longer needed. It must provide adhesion that is neither too weak nor too strong.
Kansai Paint not only creates coatings that give vehicles a beautiful finish but also leverages technologies derived from coating development to develop film materials.
