The Progress of Newly Developed Fluoropolymer Topcoat Systems--Weathering Perfomance and Track Records Since the 1980s

The ambient cure type fluoropolymer topcoat was invented at the beginning of the 1980’s in Japan and coating systems with a fluoropolymer top coat have been applied to a variety of structures up-to-date. The protective performance of coating systems in weathering environments has been demonstrated as outstanding. The fluoropolymer topcoat has been adopted in two major international standards during this time.

Nowadays reduction of maintenance and low life cycle cost for coating application projects are strong requirements in the market when we consider the construction of very large structures such as long bridges, sky towers and high rise buildings. The effect of decreasing VOC is expected, considering total life. The fluoropolymer top coat systems are recognized as the best recommendation from the results obtained over 20 year track records.  Our interest is duration not only in the past but also toward the future from the monitoring of 25 year track records.

In this paper, both the performance outdoors and in accelerated tests have been investigated. Gloss retention during the exposure service was measured and the surface of the each sample was observed in appearance using optical microscopy and by SEM. The surface was also analyzed by FT-IR spectroscopy to investigate the surface degradation.

Key words

Weathering perfomance,FluoropolymerAFluoropolymer topcoat systemADuration, Life cycle cost