Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing Magazine - May/June 2023 - 32

PAINT AND COATINGS MANUFACTURING: AEROSPACE
BY NOELLE STAPINSKY
Such impacts have strengthened the case for government
support for a national aerospace strategy-like competing
nations-identifying it as a key industrial capability.
" During the pandemic we really swung into gear on the
advocacy side to make sure the government had a good
understanding on the impacts, " says Mike Mueller, president
of AIAC. " Moving forward our priorities are advocating for
that national strategy, defining where we want to go as a
country and identifying aerospace as strategic. And when
I say aerospace, I mean the whole supply chain, including
finishing and coatings manufacturers. "
Indeed, as normalcy has returned the horizon is bright and
as the industry is at full throttle in its comeback, it is calling
on its suppliers for more efficiency, durability, and quality
in specified coatings. Although the opportunities are there
and suppliers are answering the call, there remain ongoing
challenges with supply chain issues.
" The airline industry, aircraft OEMs and the aerospace
coatings market are on a growth trajectory,
but
the
challenges are not yet behind us, especially when it comes
to the supply chain, " says Jill Kokkinen, global product and
commercialisation manager for aerospace coatings and
films at AkzoNobel. " Issues on a local and global scale, from
the Texas freeze to the pandemic have conspired to make a
challenging time more difficult. And with the ongoing conflict
in Ukraine, the ability to be able to predict what happens next
with any great certainty has been largely thrown out of the
window. "
Kokkinen continues, " Airbus, Boeing, Safran and Raytheon
have all gone on record citing supply chain issues, and we
can all, in this industry, share their pain. There will always
be future opportunistic challenges ahead. We welcome
these challenges as a chance to build further resilience into
the business. It is why we are investing in new production
capability, new products, and new ways of working. It is why
we are exploring ways of qualifying secondary raw material
providers, to make us even more robust and protect supplies
with dual sourcing. We see the current supply challenges in
the industry not as a threat, but rather a great opportunity to
become more self-sufficient. "
Sustainable Solutions
Commercial aircraft are subjected to extremes of heat, cold,
rain, lightning, sand, pressure, etc.-some of the harshest
conditions imaginable. Creating a single coating that protects
everything is a challenge, but a coating system comprised
of multiple components, each with a specific function, is
possible and can be very effective, according to Kokkinen.
" Performance is primarily driven by the polymer network-
the resins which keep the pigments together, providing overall
cohesion of the paint film and adhesion to the substrate. They
also give the coating its performance and durability, " says
Kokkinen. " Formulating a coating that delivers at 40,00032
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feet
or at Mach 0.86 is achieved through our in-house polymer
synthesis capability to design and manufacture custom
resins. We create a layer of multiple coatings, each with
specific capabilities, that together act as multiple protective
layers below the visible paint. The hardest working, toughest
and most technically advanced coatings are the ones that will
never be seen by anyone but the applicator. "
PPG is seeing a growing trend towards more colourful
aircraft overall, compared to the usual design of white with
stripes.
" There has been an increase in the use of darker colours,
which have historically posed challenges due to higher heat
retention characteristics. Through the application of our
solar heat management coatings, these colours can now
be incorporated, " says Robin Peffer, PPG global product
manager for aerospace coatings.
For the general aviation market, PPG's BOUNDLESS
CA6500 topcoat series is specifically tailored for light
aircraft and helicopters. The series is composed of low
VOC polyurethane coatings designed to provide durability,
performance and appearance characteristics with minimal
regulated VOC and volatile hazardous air pollutant emissions.
And it's available in topcoat, clear coat gloss, semi-gloss, and
flat ranges.
" We anticipate more colourful aircraft utilizing vibrant
effect colours such as metallic, special-effect and mica
colours. The incorporation of matte finishes will also provide
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Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing Magazine - May/June 2023

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