A new clear coat finish for interior cabinets and trims developed by MSI Coatings will be exclusively marketed to the aerospace industry by OmnAvia Interiors, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The finish, named BluSky Armor 1027, is a photo-polymer formulation that cures rapidly under exposure to UV light to form a thermoset coating.
“BluSky Armor 1027 brings a new chemistry to aerospace cabinet finishing,” said Robin Butler, managing partner at OmnAvia Interiors. “The curing reaction is catalyzed readily with low intensity light at the high end of the UV range, and cures tack-free within 120 seconds. This can literally remove days of processing time in the cabinet finishing timeline.”
The company says the crosslinked coating is harder and more abrasion resistant and exhibits superior weathering compared with polyurethane and polyester finishes that are thermoplastics. There are zero solvents in the formulation; it is 100% solids. OmnAvia Interiors says the elimination of off-gassing means no ‘orange peel’ has to be sanded off between applications, and that less clear coat is needed to build to a specified thickness because there is very little shrinkage. BluSky Armor 1027 washes up with isopropyl alcohol. If it has not been exposed to light and is stored properly in a separate opaque container, left-over BluSky Armor 1027 can be used at a later time.
OmnAvia Interiors says ASTM testing confirms that BluSky Armor 1027 has excellent performance in abrasion resistance, pencil hardness, finish adhesion to wood veneer, and tensile strength testing, and states that the product offers excellent performance to FAR flammability standards for 60-second vertical burn, smoke density and toxic gas emission.
In addition to the clear coat finish, MSI Coatings also offers polishing compounds engineered to match its unique chemistry, a UV-cured knife grade filler paste, and a laminating resin designed not to move after curing.
August 17, 2016
