Automobile manufacturers  are making big changes in the choice of materials they are  using in their cars,  particularly in engine and other underhood components. A  major factor behind these moves has been a need to reduce the weight of  vehicles to save energy.  Regulations on fuel standards, such as  the Euro standards in Europe,  have been tightened in order to achieve  bigger decreases in CO2  and other greenhouse gas emissions by cutting the average  fossil fuel consumption of vehicles.

An efficient way to decrease  the weight  of automobiles is through  the use of  lighter metals or  plastics instead of heavier metals or composite materials  combining plastics  and metals.  Another, increasingly used option is  to apply  glass or fiber reinforced  materials.

Also materials are being altered in and around the car  driver’s seat and the passenger  area inside the car because of the demand among car travellers  for greater comfort and for interiors  with more visual appeal.

Another major  influence  behind the development of new materials inside cars is the need  among car makers to reduce costs  by cutting  the time it takes  to make individual cars.

All these  requirements   are  presenting challenges to both developers of materials and their coatings.  But Europe is well place to take up the opportunities from these changes because of its traditional expertise in both car interior coatings and materials, particularly engineering plastics.

AkzoNobel, Europe’s largest  coatings company, is a leader  in car interior coatings.

Some analysts  reckon that  a  motive behind  AkzoNobel’s  move to merge  with Axalta, announced in late October, is not just to eliminate  the absence of OEM  body coatings in its  portfolio.  A more ambitious purpose  is to create a global car coatings business which  would integrate car body coatings, both OEM  and refinish, with  coatings for car interiors and for components both inside and outside the vehicle.

There  are also a number of  global-operating  medium-sized specialists,  such as Peter Lacke, Hiddenhausen,  Mackiewicz, Hamburg,  Karl Woerwag, Stuttgart,  and  growing number of  SME niche operators in Europe.

Some  players, such as BASF  and Covestro have the advantage  of being both producers of higher-end plastics  and of coatings  and  their materials.  This puts them in a position to develop coatings  which match the properties of their substrates, particularly in regard to surface adhesion. 

Demand for metal coatings for  auto components, such as for underhood parts, will grow by a 3.8 to 4 percent compound annual growth rate in 2016- 2021, according  to a study published by Irfab, part of the consultancy PRA World.  This compares  with an Irfad  prediction of an average growth of  3.2  percent CAGR  for  all auto coatings in the same period.

Plastic  coatings  demand for interior car components  should  be increasing even more strongly by value  because of a recent  trend  to replace metals with plastics. By  2020 automobiles  are expected to contain an average of  350 kilograms of plastics, an increase of 75 percent since  2014, according to figures from IHS Markit.

But Irfab believes that the growth in plastics  coatings may be  slowed by the technological difficulties facing their producers. The reformulation of plastics  to meet the needs  of  new designs  in cars, particularly in their engine  sections, is  necessitating higher heat and chemical resistance and other  properties in their coatings.

Among   new complications   are “the need for lower curing temperatures to avoid deformation of composites and plastics and new coatings that seamlessly paint over plastic and metal substrates,” says a recent Irfab  study on Global Industrial Coatings Markets.

In the longer  term even greater  challenges lie ahead for producers of materials and their coatings coming  from an  acceleration in demand  for electric  vehicles (EVs) or hybrids  powered by the combination of gasoline and electricity.

An acceleration in demand for these automobiles is expected by the European car industry  following announcements bv the French and UK  governments   to phase out diesel and gasoline cars by or from 2040.  National, regional and city governments are  also introduding stricter  controls on air pollutants from diesel and gasoline cars, boosting sales of car  using clean fuels.

While auto makers  in  Europe are speeding up plans for the launch of EV models, they are also doing a lot of development work on autonomous cars. Both types of vehicle require lightweight and low cost materials  and, especially with autonomous autos, even more comfort  in passenger  area.

Woerwag  has introduced a special haptic coating which keeps  the inside of the car  as  quiet as possible. The coating eliminates  10-15 percent of noises in the vehicle’s interior,  according to the company.

Some coatings producers have been introducing into car passenger interiors  heat management  coatings which help keep surfaces  cool  during hot weather.

A constant challenge  for producers  of car interior coatings  is to develop not only high performing  products  particularly in meeting requirements like  temperature and corrosion resistance  but also in helping to lower process costs.

Car manufacturers  increasingly want  coatings  which dry quickly, can be cured  rapidly and generally do not hamper progress to faster production rates. One option is greater use of in-mould  technologies.