History Of Automotive Paint

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A History of the Automotive Paint Industry Over the last century, developments in the automobile refinish and paint markets have brought two important contributions to the industry, enhanced quality, and course, speed. The goal for the user is always to finish, and refinish, faster. Advancements have continuously brought improvements in preparation time, application time and degree of difficulty. These are very significant in the automobile industry today not only in the industrial phase but also the after-market or private sector. The automotive paint industry grows along with the widespread growth of new more economic and environmentally friendly vehicles. At the birth of the auto industry, in the days of meticulous manual labor, finishes were applied much as they were for the auto’s predecessor, the carriage–by hand, with a brush. These early auto paints, while easily touched up by the car’s owner if damaged, had their own significant drawbacks. Finish quality from early India enamel was mediocre and there were few colors in the primarily dark earth-tone palette. The name comes from the paint’s relation to India ink, a pigment made from lamp-black, with no relation to the country India. Durability of the finish was also weak, as these enamels were very quick to fade in the sun. Even though it was applied using a brush, early innovations in coatings improved the speed of automotive paint operations. The lack of coatings that were easy to apply, more durable, and fast drying, became obvious handicaps to the economical production of the motorcar. As advances in chemistry were discovered in the laboratory, advances in coatings technology were close behind. Nitrocellulose paints were developed in the early 1920’s which greatly improved on earlier shortcomings in ease of application and drying time. The nitrocellulose used in these finishes is a very close relative

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