Water-powered car repair paint development road at home and abroad

China Coatings Online News
Benefit from the steady growth of auto production, China's car repair paint consumption will continue to maintain stable growth in the next few years, which has brought huge business opportunities for the development of China's automotive maintenance industry. At present, China's automotive repair paint market is still mainly solvent-based products, from the consumption, water-based car repair paint accounted for less than 10%, compared with 90% in Europe and 40% in the United States, there is still a big gap, it is expected that in the next few years water-based car repair paint accounted for the overall market proportion will grow rapidly, 2016-2020 water-based car repair paint market compound growth rate of up to 20%.
1, the development process
In the 1990s, water-based car repair paint, a green, advanced process of repair paint products into the market, from solvent-based to water-based systems, VOC decreased by more than 85%, greatly reducing VOC emissions. From its development process, foreign paint companies have been in the forefront of the industry, PPG, Axalta, BASF, Akzo NeboL, Sherwin-Williams, Nippon, Kansai and so on through continuous technological innovation, to promote the development of water-based paint industry technology, but also advanced technology and technology into the Chinese market. PPG introduced Aquabase water-based car finish paint to the Chinese market in 2003 and is a leader in China's water-based car repair brand, introducing a new upgrade in 2006 to Aquabase PLUS and Envirobase High Performance to continue to guide the water-based car patch paint trend and to release a state-of-the-art water-based finisher D8186 to the market in 2011; Sherwin-Williams launched its high-end water-based paint line AWXP water-based car repair paint line in china in 2011; Nippon, Japan, released its second-generation water-based car repair paint system, Nax E3WB, in 2016; and Kansai, Japan, launched reTANWBECOEV, a water-based car paint system in China in 2018.
, although foreign paint companies in the late 1990s launched their own water-based car repair paint system, but have their own technology platform and product design concepts. From the system construction point of view, there is a balanced water-based mother/water-based thinner system (PPG), there are designed as a high-water-based mother/water-based resin/water-based thinner system (Axalta, Nippon), there are water-dispersed solvent-based high-enriched mother/water-based resin/water The system of thinners (BASF); from the construction method: wet touch dry, wet touch wet, 2 to 3, 1.5 channels; from the color mother application, there is a need to stir on the mixing rack every day, but also only hand-shake (PPG, Nippon).
Although major paint companies have launched their first generation of water-based paint products, to solve the problem of water-based car repair paint from nothing, but by resin technology, synthesis technology, pigment (especially aluminum powder pigment) technology, production technology and other restrictions, water-based paint In film coating performance, product manufacturing, quality stability, construction applications, color services, technician training and other aspects of the shortcomings, after more than 20 years of experience accumulation, technological innovation, product upgrading, water-based repair paint system gradually mature, excellent performance, widely accepted by the market.
To meet the new requirements of our customers, PPG's latest En⁃virobase High Performance paint system is a new generation of water-based paint systems developed with the latest patented technology (3rd generation polyacrylic emulsion and microgel anti-sinking technology) that fully understands the needs of the market.
2, the status quo of development
2.1, environmental regulations
environmental regulations around the world, resulting in the process of car repair paint hydration, there are obvious differences between countries and regions. In 2004, the EU issued the 2004/42/EC Directive (PPD) and implemented it in Western Europe on 1 January 2007. In 2006, the California Air Resources Board enacted the CARB regulations, which use exempt solvents, primarily in Canada and California in the United States, and other U.S. states are preparing accordingly, including the Northeast Ozone Migration Commission (OTC). Japan published an amended air pollution prevention law in May 2005 to limit VOC concentrations in the exhaust port of the paint chamber. Hong Kong, China, enacted the Air Pollution Control (Volatile Organic Compounds) Regulation equivalent to Europe 2004/42/EC in 2007 and implemented them in full in 2011. Chinese mainland 2010 issued GB24409-2009 "Automotive paint limit limit" regulations. Beginning in 2015, the state imposed a consumption tax on > 420g/L of VOC content during construction. Beijing, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Tianjin and Jiangsu (draft for comments) have issued VOC standards for emissions or coatings for the automotive maintenance industry, and several other provinces and cities have implemented relevant environmental policies and measures for the auto repair industry.
2.2, the status quo of water-based
the European market has completed the transformation of all color paint layers of water-based, in North America, California and Canada have been completely converted to water-based paint, other U.S. states are also in accordance with their respective regulatory requirements, asia-Pacific (except China), Australia/New Zealand has been converted to water-based paint, Hong Kong, China has also completed water-based conversion, other countries and regions including Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and other markets.
Europe and the United States repair paint market after more than 20 years of development, from the water-like paint contact, understanding and use, completed the water-like paint cognitive upgrade. Today, customer attention has gradually shifted from meeting the requirements of laws and regulations to the pursuit of product quality and service, mainly reflected in the following aspects: color formula accuracy, fast, efficient, high production capacity, the latest color formula updates (high transmission high color red, blue, yellow, green, etc.), effective system training, color reproducible, easy to use, easy to handle paint defects, environmental cleaning, construction safety, help repair shops to establish a green image and social responsibility, repair shop management process to achieve sustained profit growth.
Europe and the United States market, because water-based paint before the service is mainly high-end market, high-end market because of the company's image, environmental awareness, social responsibility, etc. have very high standards, so coating products, quality and services have access to the threshold. Automotive paint repair needs to pass the product certification of the host plant before the admission qualification, water-based paint also needs to go through the same process. This process at the main plant and high-end 4S stores, in turn, has led to technological advances and product upgrades for water-based car paint repair. Typical high-end water-based car paint systems on the market include PPG's newly upgraded Aquabase PLUS and Envirobase High Performance systems; Axalta's Cromax Pro and Permahyd Hi-Tech480 systems; basF's Glasurit 90 Line systems.
but the mid-market access threshold is low and does not require quality system certification. In order to meet the needs of the mid-range mainstream market, in recent years, international paint companies have launched mid-range water-based repair paint systems, such as: PPG's Quickline system, BASF's 45line system, Axalta's Syrox system;
domestic water-like car repair paint market situation is more complex. Due to the water-based repair paint on logistics, warehousing, equipment, construction environment and other full-value industrial chain requirements are more stringent, resulting in water-based car repair paint in the domestic application is still not common. In recent years, the water-quality repair paint market has developed rapidly, but the market is still concentrated in the high-end car brand 4S stores and the government's environmental protection policies to promote the region (Beijing, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Tianjin and Jiangsu). High-end market, in the host plant and international paint companies, driven by the cooperation of Mercedes-Benz, BMW as the representative of the high-end car brand 4S stores actively promote the use of global product certification of high-end water-based car repair paint system. Mid-market (mid-range car brand 4S stores, integrated repair shops, etc., as well as VOC emissions strict requirements of the region), "oil-to-water" is imperative, but product certification is not mandatory requirements, international paint companies have introduced their own mid-range mainstream water paint products, won the first opportunity, such as: PPG's Quickline system, BASF's 45line system, Axalta's Syrox system; In the past 10 years, national enterprises through increased investment in research and development, independent innovation, advancing with the times, in the water-based paint research and development and product promotion to catch up, step by step, made significant progress and occupied a certain market share, such as: East China Technology Onwaves water-based car repair paint system;
3, coating system
automotive repair paint main coating system includes primer, medium coating, finish paint (divided into a single-component primer plus varnish and two-component pigment paint), as shown in the following image.
coating system for automotive finishes
primer is to protect the metal substrate from corrosion and to provide adhesion to the coating. At present, solvent-based phosphation erosion primer and solvent-based two-part epoxy primer are commonly used at home and abroad. The main effect of the medium coating is to further fill the fine depressions with a co-primer and putty, thus providing a smooth, smooth surface to enhance the brightness and gloss of the paint. The market is generally used in solvent-based two-part polyurethane coating.
It is well known that color is the core of car repair paint, but also the source of value of repair paint, and patch paint provides color mainly color lacquer layer, usually contains a single set of primer layer and two-part paint. At present, there are more products on the market, mainly for the master color system. Among them, solvent-based single-component primer paint master color system, mainly to acetate cellulose / wax / acrylic resin or acetate cellulose / wax / polyester resin system. And the water-based primer color palette system, mainly to polyurethane dispersion, polyacrylate emulsion-based, polyacrylate emulsion / microgel resin system, but also polyurethane dispersion / fluid control agent as the main body, but also solvent-based color mother and hydroelectric emulsion resin-based system, different technical platforms, each has its own autumn. The two-part paint is the same as the varnish, with two-part polyurethane as the main.
main role of varnish is to give the car good weather resistance, display color clarity, resistance to ad wear and tear. At present, the most widely used at home and abroad is solvent-based two-part polyurethane system.
4, the development of power
water-based car repair paint coating system, the real technology mature and commercial is the primer, the main reason for the formation of this phenomenon are the following aspects.
4.1, external environmental protection requirements driven
due to people's awareness of green environmental protection, especially in the western developed countries in the VOC emissions regulations and implementation of the world's leading. In order to meet the requirements of laws and regulations, major repair paint manufacturers through increased research and development investment, their own technological innovation, combined with the development of raw materials technology, have put in high, medium and low-grade repair paint products and services to meet market demand.
4.2, each layer VOC emission proportion
the figure below is a typical set of solvent-based repair system VOC data.
typical complete solvent-based repair system VOC data
from the figure above can be seen, the paint layer (single-component primer / varnish, two-component color paint) accounted for 80%, is the main contributor to VOC. In fact, small scratches and small scratches, parts replacement, color change and other business accounted for a lot of automotive repair sheet spray ratio, usually do not need to deal with the metal substrate, eliminate the primer and medium coating operation, just paint spraying and polishing work. Therefore, in practice, primer / medium paint sales in the entire patch paint sales accounted for a small proportion of the paint layer become the actual VOC main source of emissions.
4.3, Technical Challenge
primer is a coating that is in direct contact with the metal substrate and mainly acts as anti-corrosion. However, as a water-based coating dispersion medium of water, is the main cause of metal corrosion, corrosion speed, wide spread range, combined with the maintenance industry operating characteristics (room temperature spraying, <70 degrees C baking, as well as maintaining or shortening the existing construction cycle), water-based repair paint primer development presents a difficult challenge. Technically, the water-based repair paint primer resin is still under development, the water-based process is slow, the current research and development focuses on the upgrading of solvent-based technology, the development of compliance and maintain excellent performance, to meet market demand for solvent-based high solid primers.
coating is the transition layer between the bridging primer layer and the color paint layer, not only need to fill the fine pits of the primer layer, provide a smooth surface, but also need to have a good drying and polishing, as well as the matching between the paint layer, so as to achieve the excellent performance of the entire composite coating. Due to the above function requirements of the medium coating, the film thickness design is thicker, and the dry film thickness is up to 40 to 60 m. With such a thick coating, drying the coating after spraying is essential to ensure the quality of the medium coating. The ultra-high evaporative latent heat and slow volatility speed of the water, combined with the operating characteristics of the maintenance industry, bring great difficulty to its evaporation in thickness, if the moisture is not volatile completely, grinding difficulties, and the color paint layer will erode the layer leading to the final color change, surface loss and other coating defects. Like primers, technology faces challenges that require the emergence of new technologies and new water-based resins, and there is still a long way to go. By upgrading solvent-based technology, the researchers developed a solvent-based high solid sub-coat that meets market demand and maintains excellent performance.
Varnish as the last layer of repair paint, spray area is large, not only need to provide protection (resisting harsh external environment, excellent weather resistance, etc.), but also assume the role of decoration (transparency, fullness, gloss, etc.). Also faced with the film thickness, moisture volatility and other common difficulties, but also to maintain the same weather resistance and solvent-based varnish, beautiful surface and high gloss and other properties. Because of its large amount of use, high added value, major paint enterprises are increasing research and development efforts, and strive for technological breakthroughs. Currently, PPG and Akzo are introducing the latest technology for water-based two-part varnishes. However, by construction, performance (requires high gloss equivalent to solvent-based varnish, high smooth surface, high brightness, excellent water resistance and excellent inter-layer adhesion