Patterns of Erosion from Acrylic and Fluoropolymer Coatings in Accelerated And Natural Weathering Tests

By Kurt A. Wood, Lotfi Hedhli, P. Jeanene Willcox

Commercial poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF)/ acrylic coatings show minimal gloss loss or bulk chemical change even after sustained Florida or accelerated weathering testing. Previously, we showed that “QUV-B” weight loss rates can be used as an early predictor of the weatherability of fluoropolymer/acrylic blend clearcoats.

In this work, we study the microscopic basis for differences seen between various blends and pure acrylic coatings. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images reveal different characteristic patterns of degradation.