-togetherforthesakeoffriendship,peoplenaturallyenduphelpingeachotherwith
jobopeningand such, but themost important thing is to see thisentirecrowd. I’d
like toadd that thiseventcannotstop. Itmustcontinuebecause friendship iswhat
reallymatters toall ofus.”
One other personwho has attended since the first dinner is LuisManual Mota, a
consultant toLMCoatingsAdviser. “Twenty-eight yearsago, around sixprofessio-
nalsgot together fordinner. Later, theeventbegan togrow, andnow theaverage
turnout is 150people. It’s an excellent event becauseweget to see againpeople
wehaven’t seen thewholeyear, so I comeevery time I can.”
IndustrialCoatings–AircraftCoatings
AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings Develops Innovative Aircraft
Coating System
Thepioneeringbasecoat/clear coat system fromAkzoNobel isdesigned to impart
greater strength to aircraft coatings and streamline repair processes. The system
meets the requirements of bothbusiness and commercial aircraft. “It consists of
applyingcolorswithshorterdryingtimes,andfinallyapplyingaclearcoat,resulting in
ahighlyweathering-resistantsystem,”saysJonasFerraro,ofAkzoNobelAerospace
Coatings’ technicalsalesdepartmentforLatinAmerica,addingthatthistechnology
isalready inuse in theBrazilianmarket.
Withthebasecoat/clearcoatsystem, thepaintingprocesstimecanbereduced,and
thecoating’sdurabilityextended, saving resources, suchas fuel, andconsiderably
reducingcosts forairlinesandfleetowners,as theaircraftstaysdown forashorter
period and the labor involved is optimized. The elimination of chromate can be
consideredanenvironmental contribution.
“Among themain points of difference of this systemwe highlight the following:
shorter aircraft maintenance times, from 3 to 10 years, on average; 30-percent
reduction in the lengthof the refinishingprocess, because itdecreases from8 to2
hours thedrying intervalbetweencolorcoats (it isknown thatanairplanestopped
formaintenancecosts from70 to 100,000dollarsaday to itsowner); itpossessesa
clearcoatthatprotectstheappliedpaint; itusestheDTM(TechnologyDirecttothe
Metal) technology,whichconsists in sanding the surfaceand, soonafterwards, to
applytheprimerwithoutchromate,eliminatingthefirststageofthepre-treatment
process. With another technology, primer without chromate: when chromate is
eliminated from theprimer, ithas tobeeliminated from thepre-treatment system
aswell.Asa solution,wehaveMetaflexSP1050,”Ferraro informs.
“Becausechromate iseliminated,wecansaythesystemseekstomeetthedemand
forproductsand solutions for lower environmental impacts,”Ferraroassures.
AkzoNobel constantly invests in research anddevelopment. “The aerospace coa-
tings segment is noexception, asweareattentive tomarket requirements sowe
canprovideour customerswith innovativeandeffectiveproducts.Wehave some
projectswhichareat theapproval state, andwewill bepleased toannounce them
as soonas theyarefinalized,”Ferraroconcludes.
