DynaSeal™ UV Hybrid Sealer beats the heat in curing plastic car parts.

A new solution to a costly production problem.

BASF's DynaSeal™ UV Hybrid Sealer is used on the rear quarter panels of the Ford F-150 four-door truck, shown here in front of the OEM Coatings Application Research Center in Southfield, Michigan.

Many of today's cars and light trucks feature body panels made of a molded fiberglass composite that must be painted. However, the cured fiberglass parts are porous and absorb moisture and solvents during the painting process. Subsequently, the heat of a conventional paint curing process stimulates "outgassing" of these absorbed volatile materials, which causes unacceptable defects, called "pops", in the finish. The result: A high part rejection rate, which slows production, increases repair costs and generates undesirable gaseous emissions.

Now there's a product that not only eliminates defects caused by outgassing, but offers dramatically improved production efficiency: BASF's DynaSeal™ UV Hybrid Sealer. This innovative coating, developed by BASF's Automotive OEM Coatings Regional Business Unit, makes possible a process that combines the virtues of conventional thermal curing with the proven technology of ultraviolet, or UV, curing.

"Thermal curing and UV curing each offers advantages for a manufacturer of molded automotive parts," says John Gilbert, Technical Manager, Automotive OEM Coatings. "Heat curing, for example, enhances paint adhesion and improves resistance to the effects of chemicals, small projectiles and weathering. UV curing, on the other hand, is much faster and more efficient, with fewer volatile emissions and lower energy costs.

"The challenge for our team," says Gilbert, "was to develop a sealer that can be applied to a molded part and then cure the paint film almost instantly by UV light to seal the porous fiberglass. This prevents "outgassing" of absorbed volatile materials -- and the defects it causes -- when subsequent paint layers are applied and cured by heat."

According to Gilbert, a major automotive parts supplier has used the new sealer since May 2001. DynaSeal has eliminated defects caused by outgassing and has dramatically improved production efficiency.

T. J. Lepkowski, Product Marketing Manager, was part of the R&D team that developed and launched the DynaSeal product. "This is an excellent example of an innovation that has made a key manufacturing process better," says Lepkowski. "BASF's DynaSeal has set the standard for UV-cured automotive coatings, and its success means that other suppliers will be pressed to develop such coatings in order to meet future manufacturing demand."

DynaSeal is a trademark of BASF Corporation.