More sustainable auto refinish coatings for Team Sonnenwagen
Since 2017, Covestro has supported student solar collective Team Sonnenwagen Aachen and their participation in the biennial World Solar Challenge. For this year’s challenge, the team sought a new auto refinish coating for their solar car.
This coating would need to retain a high-quality appearance throughout the days-long race in the extreme conditions of the Australian Outback. With the car’s carbon-fiber body weighing just 11 kg, the coating would also need to weigh under 250 g for each square meter applied to minimize its overall weight.
“By combining Pasquick® technology with the expertise of Lechler, we provided Team Sonnenwagen with a more sustainable coating solution even in a short timeframe – demonstrating the potential of Pasquick® in the auto refinish market. Thanks to Lechler for the great cooperation!”
Time and sustainability were key challenges in this project. With just a few months until the race, the entire refinish operation had to be completed in a short timeframe. At the same time, Team Sonnenwagen was looking for a more sustainable coating solution, in line with its commitment to environmentally friendly mobility.
For support in addressing these challenges, Covestro partnered with Italian coating producer Lechler, who would both produce and apply the final coating solution.
“Collaborating on a project like this means pushing the limits of technology. Having already commercialized coatings offerings based on partly bio-based Pasquick® technology, I’m proud that we’ve now applied it to more sustainable mobility.”
Pasquick® technology from Covestro provided Lechler with a high-productivity, more sustainable coating solution for the primer and clearcoat of the auto refinish. Pasquick® coating technology is an umbrella designation for 2K systems based on Desmodur aliphatic polyisocyanates and Desmophen® CQ NH aspartic resins.
This fast-cure system allowed Lechler to complete the entire painting operation in only one week – including decoration and application of sponsors’ logos.
Pasquick® technology also met Team Sonnenwagen’s need for improved sustainability. Ambient-temperature curing improves energy efficiency, enabling both reduced energy costs and lower CO2 emissions. In this case, both binder raw materials were made up of minimum 25% bio-based content, as well as low volatile organic compound (VOC) content.
Most importantly, the Pasquick®-based coating offered comparable performance to conventional auto refinish coating solutions in tests for properties such as corrosion protection, gloss retention, and scratch resistance.
Key benefits
- High productivity: Pasquick® systems cure in as few as 45 minutes at ambient temperature, reducing paint shop bottlenecks.
- Ambient curing: Removing oven curing reduces energy consumption, energy costs, and CO₂ emissions.
- Strong performance: Pasquick® offers comparable performance to conventional refinish coating systems.
- Partly bio-based: Desmodur® CQ N 7300 and Desmophen® CQ NH are 68% and minimum 27% bio-based, respectively.
- Low VOC content: High solids content enables reduced VOC emissions and lower environmental impact.
