Automotive Lighting Market
Red Spot Market
When polycarbonate was introduced as a replacement for glass in the early 1980s, the challenges quickly unfolded to develop coatings that would adequately protect the plastic from UV degradation and provide key properties of scratch and chemical resistance. This has been done with success for many years, first with thermal coatings and now largely with UV curable technology due to the performance, process and environmental advantages that UV can offer.
Safe, Functional, and Beautiful
In todays automotive lighting world, the role of the lamps has changed - not only must the lamps fulfill safety requirements for light output and vision - which continue to become more stringent - but they must do this in an aesthetically pleasing way. Thus, during the last 20+ years, the coatings have evolved from a solely functional purpose to a combination of function and design. Lamp designs have become more complex with many models having very imaginative designs that are more difficult to apply coating to. Additionally design effects such as multi-shot molding, decorative paints, HID or LED lighting has affected the role of coatings and the demand placed on the protective coatings.
Red Spot has proven to be a leader in the Automotive Lighting Market for many years, constantly evolving to meet the continued needs and providing technical and application support to our customers in order to provide continued success.
Green Coating Solutions in use today
Commercialized in 1993, our UVT200 series has been a global mainstay and is used by over 40 OEM's. Applied by either spray or flow coat methods and reclaimable by nature, UVT200 technology provides users with a high degree of flexibility.
Commercialized in 2008, our UVT610 series is the next generation of hard coat that provides the superior exterior durability necessary to meet the stringent performance expectations of the industry. UVT610 is an innovative and versatile solution for optically clear applications.
Our products focus on meeting the needs of the markets as defined by a very knowledgeable base of global customers and OEMs.
Performance related features:
- Weatherability
- Clarity
- Chemical
- Scratch & Abrasion resistance
Handling & application related:
- Long term stability
- Ease of application (by spray or flow coat)
- Recyclable
Base coat
Additionally, Red Spot supplies base coats for use on the reflector and extension portion of the automotive head lamp. Base coats applied to the reflector or bezel substrate provide a smooth, high gloss surface for the metal, most commonly aluminum. The base coats can also help to seal the surface and prevent unwanted outgassing of the plastic materials under a high thermal load.
Anti-Fog
Finally, Red Spot rounds out the package of products with our anti-fog coating that is applied to the interior surface of the polycarbonate lens. As lighting technology evolves in shape, size and light source technology, the ability of the lamp to resist condensation weakens. The use of our anti-fog coating will protect and resist condensation build-up in some of the harshest of environments.