PPG Industries’ industrial coatings business has introduced SPECTRACRON polyester urethane (SPU) coating, a mid-gloss black liquid two-component (2K) topcoat that is engineered specifically to maintain and control color and gloss on metal finishes in changing customer coating-application environments.

Scott Laney, PPG product manager, liquid industrial coatings, said that, as a supplier to many of the world’s largest heavy-duty equipment (HDE) original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), PPG has been working to develop a black liquid coating in the mid-gloss range that effectively retains color and gloss regardless of shifting temperature, humidity and application conditions in customer plants.

“Mid-gloss black liquid coatings – even when quality-controlled to customer specifications – have always been notoriously difficult to maintain and control for color and gloss retention in fluctuating application environments,” Laney explained. “The new Spectracron SPU mid-gloss black topcoat helps resolve this issue by consistently meeting and maintaining 55 to 65 units of gloss at 60-degree gloss in a variety of conditions.”

When applied according to PPG specifications, Spectracron SPU mid-gloss black liquid topcoat provides wide, user-friendly application windows; improved hiding; superior sag control; and excellent “solvent-pop” resistance. It also surpasses some of the highest OEM specifications for weathering and durability in the HDE market, and during in-plant testing it enabled customers to paint units using less coating volume than a competitive product.

Although Spectracron SPU mid-gloss black liquid topcoat was developed specifically for HDE customers, it has the ability to meet the appearance and performance demands of numerous industrial and consumer products such as appliances, auto parts and accessories, and transportation equipment and components.