Rockhard
Published December 3, 2008
A surprisingly difficult specification for a clear coating, to protect moulded transparent polycarbonate telephone screen covers made for BT, proved to be a challenge for RS Coatings Ltd.
Indestructible Paint manufactures a protective clear cockpit canopy coating for jet fighters and other. RS Coatings were aware of this and contacted Indestructible Paints to ascertain the product’s suitability for its purposes.
Three types of telephones manufactured especially for city and other financial traders, had to have polycarbonate screen covers with exceptional scratch resistance.
Although polycarbonate is extremely tough with good light transmission characteristics, the surface is easily marked and the covers required a hard, scratch resistant protective coating to meet the specification. In addition to good scratch resistance and hardness the coating had to :
. be perfectly clear and colourless with good optical properties
. be blemish free (a perfectly level film, no inclusions and no “orange peel”)
. have excellent adhesion with no “etch marking” of the polycarbonate substrate
. cure rapidly to help eliminate dust and facilitate immediate handling.
51003-R1. Indestructible Paint reviewed the suitability of its acrylic based canopy coating for this purpose. Despite being designed to meet demanding aircraft specification it was found necessary to make certain adjustments to the formulation to meet BT’s requirements.
51006. Minor modifications have resulted in a tailor-made product that completely satisfies these requriements.
RS Coatings designed and manufactured a conveyorised application plant for the coating of an infra-red “flash-off” or pre-dry stage and a UV curing facility. Following trials, the coating and its application system have been successful and are now in full production.
