Tips on how to make minor repairs to new basecoat/ clearcoat paint fi nishes.
By Dale Smith
April/May 2012 issue, the aviation industry has pretty much switched from the old lead-based primers and single-stage top coats to a much more environmentally-friendly generation of basecoat/clearcoat (BC/CC) finishes. According to the various manufacturers, these new BC/CC paints offer a variety of benefits beyond their safety: they dry faster, have a greater resistance to wear, provide a much wider range of colors and, they also offer, what promises to be a much longer life on the aircraft. And while they’re better, they’re not ‘bulletproof.’ “Even the most durable, high-quality aerospace coating system will require thorough inspections and
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regular maintenance,” explained Julie Voisin, product manager, Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings. “Today’s latest coatings are far easier to maintain and repair. The clearcoat also makes the aircraft’s surface easier to clean than traditional single-stage coatings.” Ms. Voisin also stated repairs to minor blemishes in the clearcoat are especially easy. “Repairs can be as simple as buffing just the clearcoat or a localized section of the basecoat section,” she said. “In addition, the shortened processing time, (up to 30-percent off traditional coating processing times) means aircraft will spend less time in the maintenance hangar.”
This Isn’t Your Father’s Oldsmobile… “Aviation is now catching up to where automotive paint technology has been for 20-years,” added Joseph Wood, North American business director, Liquid Industrial Coatings Group, Axalta Coating Systems (formerly DuPont Performance Coatings). “These new paints and coatings offer many benefits, but they also require a stricter adherence to procedures. Mainly because they have less solvents and a higher solids content.”
In the top image, a StandardAero employee shows his taping skills. Below, Fill Bond aerospace putty from Sherwin-Williams is used to fi ll rivets, seams and small spot-repair areas on an aircraft. wings
Aviation Maintenance |
avm-mag.com | April 2013 37
s you read in Dave Jensen’s story New Promise in Paint, which appeared in our
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