Paintbox: Development of Printable Direct-gloss Paint Material

Paintbox是英国原始设备制造商（oem）的专业一级涂装供应商。Paintbox的客户包括宾利（Bentley）、劳斯莱斯（Rolls Royce）、阿斯顿马丁（Aston Martin）、捷豹路虎（Jaguar Land Rover）和迈凯轮（McLaren），以及铁路行业的日立（Hitachi）和阿尔斯通（Alstom）。他们目前正在推进一种专有的喷墨系统，能够将油漆“打印”到汽车工业的部件上。这将实现100%的油漆转移到零件上的效率，消除过度喷涂和大量相关的废物和过度喷涂产生的排放。该工艺还消除了各种能源密集型固化步骤，进一步提高了环境和成本效率。该项目是一项可行性研究，其重点是材料（涂料）兼容性，特别是高粘性材料。Paintbox团队将了解开发、测试和设计可打印涂料基线配方的限制。涂料必须可印刷，并与各种基材（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。该项目将告知系统限制和后续研发需要确保材料的兼容性和规模。

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.