Study of the Durability and Aesthetical Properties of Powder Coatings Admixed with Pearlescent Pigments

Powder coatings are commonly used to protect metallic substrates because of their good protection properties together with their aesthetical ones. In this work, the aesthetic and functional properties of powder coatings admixed with pearlescent pigments were investigated. The main aim of this work is represented by the evaluation of the coating properties and their change assessment after accelerated ageing treatments, such as UV and salt spray exposure. Changes in gloss, color and roughness were recorded before, during, and after UVA and UVB exposure. All the samples showed good resistance to UVA irradiation, whereas UVB light caused a huge variation in surface properties. Further insights on the degradation of the polymeric matrix were gained by exploiting FT-IR analyses, which could be correlated to the change of color. The protection properties of the coating were assessed by exploiting an acetic salt spray test. All the samples showed good resistance to aggressive environments, and no pigment effect on the degradation of the coatings could be detected