Dry paint transfer process for making high DOI automotive body panels

A dry paint transfer process for making a plastic vehicular body part having an exterior automotive quality paint coat on a contoured outer surface of the body part, in which the paint coat on the body part has a glossy clear coat/color coat paint finish with a distinctness-of-image of at least about 60, which comprises:

• (a) coating an optically clear weatherable and hardenable thermoplastic and thermoformable polymeric clear coat material onto a smooth high gloss surface of a carrier comprising a flexible high-temperature-resistant polymeric casting sheet, the clear coat material comprising an alloy of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and an acrylic resin which contains from about 50% to about 70% PVDF and from about 30% to about 50% acrylic resin, by weight of the total PVDF and acrylic resin solids present in the clear coat;
• (b) hardening the liquid polymeric material to form a thermoplastic and thermoformable optically clear film having a first, exposed face and a second face contiguous with the smooth surface of the carrier;
• (c) applying to the first, exposed face of the clear film a pigmented color coat comprising a thermoplastic and thermoformable polymeric material with pigments distributed therein, and hardening the color coat to form a clear coat/color coat paint film supported by the carrier;
• (d) laminating the clear coat/color coat paint film to a preformed continuous and self-supporting thermoformable resinous backing sheet by the steps of adhering the color coat side of the clear coat/color coat paint film to the resinous backing sheet and separating the carrier from the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film to expose the second face of the clear coat as a glossy, smooth outer surface transferred from the surface of the carrier, the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film being thermoformable and thereby having an elongated state in which the paint film is sufficiently pliable under the application of heat and pressure during thermoforming to stretch the clear coat/color coat paint film when conforming the film to a contoured shape;
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• (e) thermoforming the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film to thermoplastically form a three-dimensionally shaped paint-coated laminate which retains its contoured shape upon thermoforming and in which regions of the clear coat/color coat paint film are subjected to said elongated state while the paint film on the laminate retains said glossy, smooth outer surface, the paint film on said laminate having an instrument-measured distinctness-of-image value of 60 or greater following said thermoforming, the laminate thereby providing the outer component of a vehicular body part having a contoured outer surface with a clear coat/color coat paint film of exterior automotive quality.

A dry paint transfer process for making a molded plastic vehicular body panel having an exterior automotive quality paint coat on a contoured outer surface of the body panel, in which the paint coat on the body panel has a glossy clear coat/color coat paint finish with a distinctness-of-image of at least about 60, which comprises:

• (a) coating an optically clear weatherable and hardenable thermoplastic and thermoformable polymeric clear coat material onto a smooth high gloss surface of a carrier comprising a flexible high temperature-resistant polymeric casting sheet, in which the clear coat polymeric material comprises a blend of a fluoroplymer and an acrylic resin;
• (b) hardening the clear coat polymeric material to form a thermoplastic and thermoformable optically clear film having a first, exposed face and a second face contiguous with the smooth surface of the carrier;
• (c) applying to the first, exposed face of the clear film a pigmented color coat comprising a thermoplastic and thermoformable polymeric material with pigments distributed therein, and hardening the color coat to form on the carrier a clear coat/color coat paint film supported by the carrier;
• (d) laminating the clear coat/color coat paint film to a preformed continuous and self-supporting thermoplastic resinous backing sheet by the steps of adhering the color coat side of the clear coat/color coat paint film to the resinous backing sheet and separating the carrier from the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film to expose the second face of the clear coat as a glossy, smooth outer surface transferred from the surface of the carrier, the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film being thermoformable and thereby having an elongated state in which the film is sufficiently pliable under the application of heat and pressure during thermoforming to stretch the clear coat/color coat paint film when conforming to a contoured shape;
• (e) thermoforming the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film to thermoplastically form a three-dimensionally shaped paint-coated laminate which retains its contoured shape upon thermoforming and in which regions of the clear coat/color coat paint film are subjected to said elongated state while the paint film on said laminate retains said glossy, smooth outer surface;
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• (f) molding a resinous substrate material to the backing sheet to form a molded contoured finished vehicular body panel in which the paint-coated laminate forms a decorative clear coat/color coat paint finish on the outer surface of the molded body panel with the pigmented color coat layer visible through the outer clear coat, the backing sheet having sufficient thickness to absorb defects present in the resinous substrate material to produce an essentially defect-free outer surface on the finished body panel, the clear coat/color coat paint film providing a glossy, weatherable, defect-free exterior automotive quality paint coat with an instrument-measured distinctness-of-image value of 60 or greater on the outer surface of the finished body panel.

A dry paint transfer process for making a plastic vehicular body part having an exterior automotive quality paint coat on a contoured outer surface of the body part, in which the paint coat on the body part has a glossy clear coat/color coat paint finish with a distinctness-of-image of at least about 60, which comprises:

• (a) coating an optically clear weatherable and hardenable thermoplastic and thermoformable polymeric clear coat material onto a smooth high gloss surface of a carrier comprising a flexible high-temperature-resistant polymeric casting sheet, the clear coat material comprising an alloy of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and an acrylic resin which contains from about 50% to about 70% PVDF and from about 30% to about 50% acrylic resin, by weight of the total PVDF and acrylic resin solids present in the clear coat, and in which the PVDF comprises a dispersion in a solution of the acrylic resin;
• (b) hardening the liquid polymeric material to form a thermoplastic and thermoformable optically clear film having a first, exposed face and a second face contiguous with the smooth surface of the carrier;
• (c) applying to the first, exposed face of the clear film a pigmented color coat comprising a thermoplastic and thermoformable polymeric material with pigments distributed therein, and hardening the color coat to form a clear coat/color coat paint film supported by the carrier;
• (d) laminating the clear coat/color coat paint film to a preformed continuous and self-supporting thermoformable resinous backing sheet having a thickness of at least about 10 mils, by the steps of adhering the color coat side of the clear coat/color coat paint film to the resinous backing sheet and separating the carrier from the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film to expose the second face of the clear coat as a glossy, smooth outer surface transferred from the surface of the carrier, the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film being thermoformable and thereby having an elongated state in which the paint film is sufficiently pliable under the application of heat and pressure during thermoforming to stretch the clear coat/color coat paint film when conforming the film to a contoured shape;
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• (e) thermoforming the composite of the backing sheet and the clear coat/color coat paint film at a temperature in the range from about 270.degree. F. to about 340.degree. F. to thermoplastically form a three-dimensionally shaped paint-coated laminate which retains its contoured shape upon thermoforming and in which regions of the clear coat/color coat paint film are subjected to said elongated state while the paint film on the laminate retains said glossy, smooth outer surface, the paint film on said laminate having a 60 degree gloss of at least about 75 gloss units and an instrument-measured distinctness-of-image value of 60 or greater following said thermoforming as measured by the HunterLab Dorigon D47R-6 instrument, the laminate thereby providing the outer component of a vehicular body part having a contoured outer surface with a clear coat/color coat paint film of exterior automotive quality.