Research in Coating Technology for the European Automotive Industry at Fraunhofer IPA, Germany

The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is dedicated to the development and realization of new technologies through targeted projects in basic and applied research. Since 1976, the division for paint coating technology at Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart has carried out many projects for European car manufacturers and their suppliers. At present there is an increasing interest in the field of UV coatings. In many cases, UV-curable coatings offer process-specific advantages compared to other coating technologies. The drastically reduced curing time for UV coatings is a major factor in process assessment. Until now there was a lack of flexible UV pilot plants for research and development and for near-production testing of this technology for three-dimensional objects. To provide for this demand, the Fraunhofer IPA in collaboration with Fusion UV Systems has built a large-scale UV test plant unique in its kind in Europe up to now. The test plant is available to the car industry and their suppliers for bas ic research and production testing.