h yari - Department of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran,Department of surface coating and corrosion, Institute for color science and technology, Tehran, Iran
m mohseni - Department of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran,
z ranjbar - Department of surface coating and corrosion, Institute for color science and technology, Tehran, Iran

The present work has studied the influence of an OH-functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane nano-structure (POSS) on the scratch resistance and healing ability of a typical acrylic melamine clearcoat. For this purpose, Micro-scratch and profilometry together with thermo-mechanical techniques were conducted on clearcoats containing various loadings of POSS. The results revealed that POSS incorporation could effectively enhance the scratch resistance and healing performance of the clearcoats. The increased scratch resistance was attributed to the increased hardness and cross-linking density of POSS-containing clearcoats. The improved healing ability was also explained by the developed thermo-reversible physical interactions such H-bonding in presence of POSS nanostructures

Automotive clearcoats, scratch resistance, POSS, healing, Hydrogen bonding