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US 6,835,267 B1Granted
Dry paint transfer process and product
AssigneeAvery Dennison Corporation
InventorsPatrick Leon Spain, Keith Lawson Truog
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAvery Dennison Corporation
InventorsPatrick Leon Spain, Keith Lawson Truog
Estimating the term…
An automotive quality paint coat (44) is laminated to the exterior surface of a molded plastic car body member or panel (118). In one embodiment, the paint coat (44) includes an exterior clear coat (45) above a color coat (46). During processing, the clear coat (45) and color coat (46) are each coated on a temporary flexible casting sheet 42) and dried. A high gloss surface is transferred to the clear coat (45) from the casting sheet (42). The paint coat (44) is then transferred from the casting sheet (42) to a thin, semi-flexible thermoformable plastic backing sheet (72) by dry paint transfer-laminating techniques. The resulting laminate (70) is thermoformed into a complex three-dimensional shape of the car body member or panel. The preformed laminate (116) is then bonded to an underlying plastic substrate material, by injection-cladding techniques, for example, to form the finished article. The paint coat (44) has sufficient elongation to retain exterior automotive appearance and durability properties during thermoforming without deglossing. The backing sheet (72) absorbs defects in the substrate material so the paint coat retains its appearance and durability properties during the injection-cladding step. The finished article comprises a high gloss, defect-free paint coat on the exterior of a molded plastic car body member or panel. Solution-form polyvinylidene fluoride/acrylic paint systems have remarkably high combined gloss and distinctiveness-of-image levels, together with durability properties required for exterior automotive use.
A method for making a flexible decorative sheet material for use in surfacing automobile body panels, said sheet material being characterized by having the appearance of a glossy, base coat/clear coat automotive paint finish, and comprising forming a flexible film of an optically clear weatherable polymer having a smooth outer surface with a distinctiveness of image value of 65 percent or greater, applying to the inner surface of the film a thin coating of a flexible polymer with pigments distributed therein, and drying the thin coating to thereby form a flexible decorative sheet material having the appearance of a base coat/clear coat paint finish when viewing the outer surface thereof.
A method for making a thermoplastically elongatable flexible decorative sheet material capable when heated of assuming the three dimensional surface contours of a contoured automobile body panel and producing the appearance of a glossy, base coat/clear coat automotive paint finish having a distinctiveness-of-image of at least about 65 which comprises:
A method for making a flexible decorative sheet material for use in surfacing automobile body panels and the like, said sheet material being characterized by having the appearance of a glossy, base coat/clear coat automotive paint finish, and comprising the steps of
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.