Gloss Plastic Could Eliminate Auto Painting

customs writes "There is a new plastic out from GE that covers plastic surfaces with a really good sheen. It's more resistant to scratches and random chemicals compared to conventional paint. It's actually a .5 mm polymer called Sollx; the Segway was the first semi-mass-produced product to use it, it has slender two tone fenders. Kinda cool. Auto painting is the industries largest manufacturing expense, and this could be what they're looking for...as soon as the price comes down."

Thanks, But I'll keep my paint job

[diablobynight]

What are the affects of the sun on this plastic. Because of the construction of most polymers, ultravolet radiation ussually has terrible affects on them. And how do you wax a piece of plastic? Will the whole world suddenly be driving Saturns?

Materials science

[Anonymous Coward]

Has given us Teflon, Kevlar, Lexan and host of other trademarked (but quality) materials. The impact of this tech tends to be below the radar of the average person, but is vastly important in the cost and quality of manufactured goods. The use of other materials such as titanium, aluminum and magnesium in objects traditionally made from steel or die-cast alloy has given us lighter and stronger engines, laptops and spacecraft not to mention medical devices.

Nice, but expensive

[Cappy Red]

Metal dents, and when plastic doesn't bounce, it cracks. Even when the price comes down, it's still going to be fun to replace an entire section of the car for a crack.

Re:Explained in the article

[diablobynight]

wait I have seen this film used on a table I purchased for outside my home, the film starts to glaze over after a year, and makes looking through it, like looking through a smudged piece of glass, after I see a car five years after this stuff has been used, then, I'll consider it. And yes, I saw this comercial a while ago, slash dot will post anything as news.

Durability?

[duncan7]

Sure, it's scratch-resistant, which would be pretty handy, given the fact that the width of the average parking space hasn't kept pace with the expanding girth of the average car. Seems like my car picks up a ding a day.

Wonder how it holds up to sunlight, though. There are plenty of scalded-looking cars driving around here in Georgia, and many more further south and west. Somehow, my sense is that combination of plastic + UV would be an issue.

What about bodywork? Can it be done? Beyond their dent-resistance threshold, do the panels deform or fail? (Didn't Audi have to set up its own network of trusted body shops before the introduction of the latest aluminum-bodied A6, then offer free flatbed service to new owners, b/c typical body shops didn't have the right equipment and expertise?)

Repair Bills

[awitod]

So, it is more resistant to minor damage. But if it's a film applied to the whole part, what happens if you do damage it?

The nice thing about paint is that you can patch a small area. This sounds like you'd have to replace the entire damaged part.

If so, it has the potential to slightly decrease the original price and really increase the maintenance and repair costs.

I'm not sure that constitutes an improvement.

Correct me if im wrong

[Unknown Poltroon]

But dosent "scratch resistant" mean "Incredibly hard to fix once it has been scratched"?

What about the environment?

[arnonym]

"Classic" painting uses a lot of nasty chemicals, but is the production of this new plastic in any way safer?

Why don't they...

[nyc_paladin]

"We could look better than paint. But right now, we have to look like paint."

If they could make it better than paint then why don't they? If they can make a better product, save cost and make it look better it would give them more of an edge. Especially against an industry that has been part of auto making since the beginning. The more advantages the better.

Lighter equals Safer?

[SwedishChef]

I suppose it depends upon the vantage point of the people involved in a collision. Which would you rather be hit by: a Ford Explorer or a Honda CRZ?

There are also issues of a smaller car being more maneuverable. My wife once avoided a serious accident by being able to swerve her VW Rabbit very quickly to safely pass a camper shell that blew off from the vehicle in front of her on the freeway.

While larger and heavier vehicles absorb collision stress better than those of less mass, it's likely that a larger proportion of lighter vehicles on the road could reduce injuries by simply reducing the collision loads.

Re:Materials science

[Havokmon]

Has given us Teflon, Kevlar, Lexan ....The impact of this tech tends to be below the radar of the average person

No kidding.. my kids will probably never know what trying to clean a non-teflon coated pot is like.

I don't know what Lexan is, but I work for Valeo (Fitness Gloves/Belts, and Industrial Safety), and we use Kevlar threads in some of our Material Handling gloves to give them longer life.. Things just don't fall apart as much as they used to. I just hope my kids don't grow up thinking this stuff was invented in a garage, and everyone needs free access immediately. Some companies spend millions on this research, and they deserve to make their money back - and then some. Only after a reasonable amount of time should it become public domain.

Oxidation is fun

[sjbe]

In a white car, that may not be bad, but when this car is all newly washed and shiney, it's got ugly white scratches on the sides and rear fender. For some reason, metal cars don't seem to have this problem as much.

No metal cars just rust instead. Much better...

There's a drawback to any material. Plastic scrapes , steel rusts, aluminum corrodes, etc. Plastic is no exception. The "dent resistant" panels work but you can't hammer them either. They're durable, not indestructible. And it's easy enough to touch them up.

I drive a Saturn and it's a fine vehicle. (1993 SC2) Fun to drive (for its price), good fuel mileage, low insurance, very reliable and it isn't offensive to the eyes either. I don't have the problems with the paint the previous poster described either. When washed it looks pretty good for a car with 120,000 miles on it. I expect it to last me another 60-80,000 miles too. Not much more you can ask for really.

Segway? Mass produced?

[jesser]

I like the Segway as much as the next geek, but is it accurate to say that it was mass-produced?

Try to make a car out of carbon fibers.

[kfg]

Go ahead. I double dare you.

You can't do it. So called "carbon fiber" is a *composite* of carbon fibers and plastic. The plastic gives the form and the fibers add rigidity, taking advantage of the best attributes of both.

Such plastic plus fiber composites have been with us for ages. The WW1 Albatross fighter plane fuselage was made from composite materials, as was the PT boat, although must people don't recognize it as such.

That's right. *Plywood*, chip board and fiberboard are manufactured, actually high tech, plastic composite material using wood fibers instead of glass or graphite.

Your views on plastic as a throw away item is biased by the fact that plastics are the materials used to make disposable items. This has nothing to do with the plastic itself. What is one of the primary problems with this? Plastics don't degrade and build up in the land dumps. Metal does. Please note from the article that this plastic they have developed in *not* subject to degradation from uv light.

In any case, you can do exactly the same thing with a production plastic car to protect it from uv radiation as they do for GP cars.

Paint 'em.

There. Problem solved.

Trust me, I can make you a plastic car that will last for eons. Just like that Dixie cup you threw away last week.

KFG