Aerospace Coatings Market
May 2016 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 31
“Where previously it was more efficient to use decals, today
one can use paint more efficiently. For example, working with
Brussels Airlines we recently supplied the Magritte and Trident
livery: solely paint was used for this, even for the fine facial features of the depicted artist and for complex, finely detailed structures that were like a bird’s nest. Previously, we would be forced
to use decals to achieve such effects, but now we use paint alone,
which is only possible due to the excellent drying times of the
basecoat and the paint’s special fade-out properties. These properties combined with the outstanding durability of the coating
compared to decals explain the increased demand,” he said.
Mankiewicz has also witnessed a conversion from decals to
paint for aircraft interiors due to the advantages of the product.
Ossenkopf said the demand for this has exceeded the growth of
the market.
Athansopoulos said that Hentzen expects to see an increase in
aerospace coatings in both military and commercial markets. He
believes that overall market growth will parallel the OEM growth.
Growth, of course, is dependent upon meeting customer
need, and Athansopoulos said that Hentzen’s customers are
looking for products that are environmentally compliant, offer
improved exterior durability color and gloss retention, lower
weight, and faster dry time for reduction in down-time during
painting cycle.
Latest Technologies
Leading coatings manufacturers are frequently introducing new
technologies to the market. What follows is information on these
new innovations from select manufacturers, in their own words.
AkzoNobel
Basecoat clear coat (BC/CC) is rapidly becoming the industry
standard. AkzoNobel is four years into an 8-10 year adoption cycle. More than 50 percent of the paint supplied to both
Airbus and Boeing is still high solid content, but we expect this
to change to more than 90 percent BC/CC within the next two
years.
AkzoNobel said it invests a lot of research in the development of chromate-free products that have the right combination
of resin, inhibitor, adhesion and flexibility to provide maximum
protection with good in-service life, plus both cost and weight
reductions. The most important factor is that the OEMs are able
to trust them to behave over the life of the aircraft.
For external protection, the company has developed innovative technologies to solve the problems of achieving chromate-free anti-corrosion products. For AkzoNobel, Airbus and AMS
3095 approvals are in place, while for Boeing the approval is
pending.
