Paintbox: Development of Printable Direct-gloss Paint Material

Paintbox是英国原始设备制造商（OEM）的专业一级油漆供应商。Paintbox的客户包括宾利、劳斯莱斯、阿斯顿马丁、捷豹路虎和迈凯轮，以及铁路领域的日立和阿尔斯通。他们目前正在开发一种专有的喷墨系统，能够将油漆“打印”到汽车行业的部件上。这将使油漆在零件上的转移效率达到100%，消除过度喷涂以及过量喷涂产生的大量相关废物和排放。该工艺还消除了各种能源密集型固化步骤，以进一步提高环境和成本效益。该项目是一项可行性研究，其重点是材料（油漆）的兼容性，特别是高粘度材料。Paintbox团队将了解在开发、测试和设计可打印涂料的基线配方时的限制。涂料必须是可印刷的，与各种基材（如复合材料、铝和各种热塑性塑料）兼容，并符合OEM性能标准，以确保涂层寿命。该项目将为系统限制和后续研发提供信息，以确保材料兼容性和规模扩大。

Paintbox is a specialist Tier 1 painting provider to UK based Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Paintbox's clients include the likes of Bentley, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Jaguar Land Rover, and McLaren as well as Hitachi and Alstom in the rail sector. They are currently advancing a proprietary inkjet system, capable of 'printing' paint onto components in the automotive industry. This would enable 100% transfer efficiency of paint onto parts, eliminating overspray and the significant quantities of associated waste and emissions excess overspray produces. The process also removes various energy intensive curing steps, to drive further environmental and cost efficiencies.This project is a Feasibility Study whose focus is materials (paint) compatibility, specifically looking at highly-viscous materials. The Paintbox team will be understanding the constraints in developing, testing and designing baseline recipes for printable paints. The paints must be printable and compatible with a variety of substrates (e.g. composites, aluminium and various thermoplastics) and meet OEM performance capability standards to ensure coating longevity. The project will inform system constraints and follow-on R&D required to ensure materials compatibility and scale-up.