PPG Aerospace
Menu
Print |

News

Cool Technology

Thanks to an ongoing collaboration with PPG, Ferrari is the first to debut a new paint system which is very cool in more ways than one.


Ferrari’s 3.9 litre twin-turbo V8 powered Portofino™ Gran Turismo can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 3.5 seconds. Although the PPG coatings applied to this gorgeous supercar take a bit longer than that to cure, they can actually do so at significantly lower temperatures and with reduced energy consumption thanks to new Low Temperature Coating (LTC) technology by PPG. Indeed, the introduction of LTC technology was a key to the automotive OEM business earning PPG’s overall Sustainability Award, says Rebecca Liebert, PPG Senior Vice President of Automotive Coatings.
 
“In addition to providing high-quality coatings and uniform colours, our new technology reduces energy consumption by more than one-third. This is one way PPG continues to create value for our customers. It demonstrates PPG’s commitment to innovation in sustainability while maintaining the high level of quality that customers, such as Ferrari, expect.”
 
The advanced LTC technology, which launched last year on the Portofino Gran Turismo, was developed by PPG’s OEM team in Quattordio, Italy, in partnership with researchers at the company’s Coatings Innovation Center, in Allison Park, Pennsylvania. While Ferrari was the first automaker to use the LTC technology, Rebecca Liebert expects other carmakers to follow suit.
 
The technology relies on a basecoat and a two-component clearcoat which has been specially formulated to bond and cure at low temperatures. And, while paint shop operations typically consume about 70 percent of the energy used within an automotive assembly plant, the LTC technology can reduce that by nearly 40 percent, according to Selamawit Belli, PPG Global Product Manager, OEM Coatings. “The benefits are immediate and easy to see. Automakers can actually reduce the physical size of their paint shops by using fewer ovens and at lower temperatures.”
 
Not only that, the technology also improves quality by ensuring colour uniformity across different substrates because both carbon-fibre and composite components can be baked with the bodyshell. Multiple colour options are available with different LTC basecoats with gloss, matt and pigmented clearcoats. Overall, LTC technology is part of a Low-Energy Paint Process (LEAPP) initiative from PPG’s OEM unit, with the aim of creating a transformative effect on the paint shop operations, sustainability and vehicle appearance for vehicle makers, says Rebecca Liebert. “Automotive manufacturers face ongoing pressure to reduce energy consumption. LTC and other LEAPP initiatives help us to deliver solutions that meet those goals without sacrificing quality or appearance.”