Molded-in paint jobs save cashMolded-in paint jobs save cash

If you think the automotive OEMs only think of thermoforming when considering the use of paintfilms on their vehicles, you’re wrong. Ask Honda or Toyota, or, better yet, their molded parts supplier.

Using paintfilm, you can forego the multimillion-dollar investment in a paint line. You can avoid the headaches caused by discovering that the paint systems selected and your molding materials are incompatible due to drying limitations. Paint lines also require extensive environmental regulatory control.

In contrast, paintfilm operations are clean and green. Also, paintfilms, being thermoplastic in nature themselves, are recyclable, so any scrap can be reground and reused in your resin stream. That’s what sources at Soliant LLC (Lancaster, SC), a major supplier of paintfilms, have to say.

At the Molding 2007 conference and exposition held earlier this year in Austin, TX, one noted automotive technician suggested that you should investigate the use of paintfilm and the thermoforming process as a cost-saving strategy (see immnet.com/articles/2007/May/3190). Then Soliant told us more about the growth of thermoformed/paintfilmed automotive parts (see “Watch Your Back—Thermoforming’s Coming” at immnet.com/articles/2007/May/3193).

We were getting worried, so we asked Soliant if injection molded/paintfilmed parts had a chance. The reply? They do indeed. In fact, Honda and Toyota are using Soliant’s paintfilm, trademarked Fluorex, for exterior parts on some of their best-selling vehicles, parts manufactured by Green Tokai Co. Ltd. (GTC), a Tier One supplier in Brookville, OH.

Cost-effective durability

“Providing a superior product to our customers while maintaining a strong commitment to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources is part of our environmental policy,” says Paul N. Uritani, president and CEO of GTC. He says Honda uses Fluorex paintfilm on its Acura TL rocker panels, its Odyssey rocker panels and body-side moldings, and its Pilot door claddings.

Toyota uses Fluorex paintfilm on three different exterior parts on the Avalon—the lower door moldings, extruded roof moldings, and rocker panels. Toyota also uses paintfilm on the Solara rocker panels, parts processed and finished right out of the mold that match the full color offerings of each model, including all metallics and pearlescents.

“A painted part can chip more easily than one with paintfilm,” says Terry Klemt, GTC’s sales manager. “The paintfilm has an adhesive layer bonding it to the molded TPO substrate, so it doesn’t peel or chip. When Fluorex paintfilm is combined with the inherent impact-resistance benefits and economics of TPO, you get a very durable, cost-effective part.”

In addition to having excellent adhesion to TPO, Soliant Fluorex paintfilms can also be used with PC, PVC, ABS, and PC/ABS.

Award-winning technology

Yet another GTC source, Hiro Yamamoto, CTO, tells us he believes that paintfilm technology is going to have an enormous impact on the auto industry in years to come. Yamamoto pioneered paintfilm processing innovations at GTC, giving the company both a competitive and an environmental advantage.

He estimates that more than 40 million parts with paintfilm have been in the field over the last five years without issue. “Applying paintfilm technology has enabled us to improve our product offering and has made us a big player in the U.S. automotive market,” he says.

Soliant sources say its paintfilm is compatible with a variety of manufacturing processes and resins—even gas-assist injection molding—and allows multiple parts to be run, all in perfectly matched colors with just one film. Paintfilm’s versatility also gives automotive OEMs the ability to achieve multiple looks and decorating options, using different paintfilm colors and styles, with the same tool and molding machine.

They also reminded us that their paintfilm process won the Environmental Award in the Emerging Technologies category last year at the SPE’s Global Plastics Environmental Conference. Soliant demonstrated a 98% reduction in VOC emissions based on an analysis of the production process and use of its product vs. traditional vehicle painting.

Also, Green Tokai has corporate research showing that its use of paintfilm instead of paint results in significant energy savings. It estimates that in 2006 it saved the amount of energy equivalent to 13,200 barrels of petroleum. And its water savings by using paintfilm instead of paint was 115,000 tons.