PPG Aerospace Selectively Strippable Coatings System Tops 500 Aircraft Milestone

SYLMAR, Calif., July 13, 2010 – British Airways is the recipient of the 500th new aircraft painted with the Desothane(R) selectively strippable aircraft exterior coatings system by PPG Industries’ (NYSE:PPG) aerospace coatings group. The PPG Aerospace selectively strippable system was introduced in 1998 on a commercial aircraft and has been selected by more than 30 airlines for their aircraft, according to Richard Hargreaves, PPG Aerospace coatings market manager for Europe.

For airline maintenance operations, the PPG system reduces repainting downtime because its primer is not removed during selective stripping of the topcoat and intermediate coat. It also provides corrosion protection for the airframe, affords a high-gloss, durable finish and has environmental benefits.

“It is fitting that we reached this milestone with British Airways because they have specified the PPG selectively strippable system on close to 100 aircraft in their fleet. This is the largest fleet of selectively strippable aircraft in the world, and British Airways were also instrumental in the system’s development,” Hargreaves said. “As a result, British Airways have the most selective stripping experience with more than half that fleet having gone through a successful depaint/repaint cycle with PPG’s system.”

In total, more than 15 percent of the 500 OEM aircraft painted with the Desothane system have undergone stripping and repainting, providing a long-term track record unmatched by any other system, Hargreaves said. “Airline maintenance operations are seeing their aircraft strip-and-repaint cycle shortened by up to two days, or by one-fifth, compared with a traditional cycle that can be up to 10 days. With a mild chemical stripper, they are able to remove the topcoat and intermediate coat without attacking the detail primer, so corrosion protection is retained.”

Hargreaves added that the Desothane system continues to gain more OEM qualifications as substrate protection, environmental footprint reduction and maintenance productivity gain more importance.

Today’s Desothane selectively strippable system consists of chromate-free Desoprime(TM) CF/CA 7049 high-solids epoxy primer, F565-4010 chromate-free intermediate coating, and Desothane HS CA 8000 high-solids polyurethane topcoat. During selective stripping, a mild paint remover selectively removes the intermediate coat and topcoat, leaving the PPG primer intact. The primer is then thoroughly cleaned, and the intermediate coating and topcoat are reapplied.

In addition to enhancing the depaint/repaint process, the intermediate coating in combination with Desothane topcoat results in a highly flexible system, improving rivet paint adhesion and reducing paint film crazing. “The PPG selectively strippable system has afforded environmental benefits since it was introduced,” Hargreaves said. “It dramatically reduces the volume of organic solvent because of the efficient stripping and repainting process, and there is no need for toxic paint removers. With Desoprime CF/CA 7049 primer replacing the original primer, our second-generation system is even more environmentally responsible.”

PPG selectively strippable coatings systems are applied over several structural primers used by airframe manufacturers to protect aluminum and advanced composite substrates.