PPG Secures Funding for Energy-Saving Automotive Paints and Coatings

PPG announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to develop energy-efficient coating systems for the automotive industry. PPG's project "Modeling Coating Flow and Dynamics During Drying" was selected to receive funding through the DOE High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) program. PPG scientists will collaborate with LBNL experts to model the complex physics contributing to paint flow and leveling in a two-layer coating system. The resulting insights will accelerate the introduction of new multilayer coating systems that can be cured together in a single, lower-temperature oven and reduce paint-line energy consumption by up to 30% for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Xinyu Lu, development engineer for PPG Automotive OEM Coatings, said: "Beyond the energy savings achieved from fewer curing steps and faster process times, our research will establish a foundation for future models with water-based coatings and lighter vehicle substrates."

"PPG is at the forefront of coating technologies that can significantly help vehicle manufacturers reduce costs and environmental footprints."

The PPG initiative was one of 11 research projects selected in the latest HPC4EI funding round. PPG has worked with the HPC4EI program over the years to advance programs that increase automotive manufacturing efficiency and enable vehicle lightweighting. In 2019, PPG received a DOE grant to examine aging characteristics of next-generation structural adhesives needed to combine high-strength steel, aluminum, magnesium and other substrates that could help reduce vehicle mass and improve fuel economy. The HPC4EI program is funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Fossil Energy. It leverages world-class DOE capabilities in high performance computing to help improve manufacturing processes and develop more products and materials to reduce national energy consumption. These high performance computers employ new mathematical innovations to provide increasing accuracy in engineering and scientific simulations and enable faster optimization and advanced data analytics. More information is available at hpc4energyinnovation.