Synthesis and characterization of flexible polyester coatings for automotive pre-coated metal

An automotive pre-coated metal system has investigated to remove the wet coating process, such as pre-treatment, dip coating and spray coating for environmental regulations. However, automotive pre-coated metal sheets must have high flexibility and formability to overcome the harsh conditions such as cutting, press and stamping process. For these reasons, flexible polyester coatings were designed to control flexibility using polycarbonatediol. The characteristics, curing behavior and viscoelastic property of the resins were measured by FT-IR, GPC, rheometer, DSC, RPT and DMA. The flexibility was evaluated using a texture analyzer. A nano-scratch tester, equipped optical microscope can measure the scratch resistance of coatings and the scratched surface morphology.With increasing polycarbonatediol content, the final frequency and the storage modulus increased and the Tg of the coatings decreased. This is related to the high mobility of the chain segment in polycarbonatediol. In terms of the flexibility and scratch resistance, CP-3 had high elongation value and good scratch resistance resulting from optimized stamping, pressing and cutting process in automotive pre-coated metal system. Therefore, polycarbonatediol is a powerful factor affecting the flexibility and scratch resistance of polyester coatings.

► Polyester resins were synthesized with polycarbonatediol to control the flexibility for an automotive pre-coated metal system.
► The resins were designed to demonstrate the flexible chain effect, using polycarbonatediol and 1,6-hexanediol.
► Polycarbonatediol is a powerful factor affecting the flexibility and scratch resistance of the polyester coatings.