Axalta receives R&D 100 Award for primerless automotive coating system
Axalta has won an R&D 100 Award in the mechanics and materials category for its primerless consolidated coating system at the end of 2024. It ensures greater sustainability and productivity in the automotive painting process in automotive paint shops.
Many automotive coatings are applied in a multi-coat painting process consisting of a primer, colored basecoats and a clearcoat, with solvent evaporation between each coat. Axalta's latest innovation is a paint system that achieves pearlescent effects without primer and with a further reduction in basecoat application steps (one pass instead of two). This process delivers the desired substrate coverage, mechanical properties and color effects while reducing the cycle time and energy consumption of the paint shop. According to the manufacturer, the paint system offers superior color capability, especially for glamorous and difficult-to-create colors.
"We are delighted to once again receive the prestigious R&D 100 Award," said Robert Roop, Axalta's Chief Technology Officer. "This recognition confirms that we are making a real difference by developing smarter surface solutions for a better life and a more sustainable future. This coating technology offers sustainability benefits to our customers in the automotive industry and shortens production cycles." Since 1963, the R&D 100 Award program has recognized the top one hundred breakthrough technologies from the world's leading Fortune 500 companies, government-funded research institutions, academic and government laboratories, and smaller companies. The winners of the 2024 R&D 100 Award were recognized at an awards dinner on November 21 in Palm Springs, California.