Axalta Reveals New 3-Wet System

Axalta has revealed a new 3-Wet system for light vehicle OEM paint lines. This is the latest of its Harmonised Coating Technologies, which can significantly reduce the time needed for painting a vehicle.

Axalta’s application technology manager Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Sven Radek delivered a presentation at the 24th annual DFO European Automotive Coating conference which highlighted the benefits of the new 3-Wet, 2-Wet monocoat and eco-concept harmonized coating technologies for light vehicle OEM paint lines. This can remove oven bake steps or combine layers.

The harmonized coating technologies are a line of coating application processes which integrate primers, basecoats and clear coats in order to save on material, cut processing costs, and reduce the environmental footprint for light vehicle car original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

The conventional painting process for application of waterborne paints calls for the application of four paint layers, and the use of three curing ovens and one intermediate dryer. The harmonized coating systems on the other hand integrates all these processes related to the light vehicle OEM paint process. It is now possible to achieve the same results with just two ovens, and without either primer applications or sanding, depending on which process is used. Thus, car manufacturers can now save time, money, labor, materials and energy

Radek said, “By 2018, 20 per cent of all cars are likely to be painted with consolidated processes.”

The 3-Wet Process, which Axalta recently developed, applies an exterior 1K or 2K pre-coat to give the final external paint surface greater stone chip resistance and high UV protection.

It is possible to match the solid color precoats with different basecoat colour groups in order to create a uniform color for further application steps. Under the 3-Wet process, there is no need for a primer as the precoat functions as the primer.