Effects of different silicon-based surface active additives on degradability of clearcoats exposed to bird droppings

A series of clearcoats separately loaded with different concentrations of functional silicon–polyacrylate and polydimethyl siloxane additives were prepared. Optical performances of the cured films were studied by gonio-spectrophotometry. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis was used in order to investigate viscoelastic properties of the additive-containing films. Contact angle measurements, (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive analysis of X-ray, and atomic force microscopy techniques were utilized to evaluate surface properties of the clearcoats. It was shown that clearcoat surface free energy decreased and its crosslinking density increased in the presence of the additives. Results revealed that addition of both additives to the clearcoat enhanced its resistance against pancreatin (simulated bird droppings). A decrease in surface degradation was observed in the presence of the additives. Results also showed that functional polydimethyl siloxane influenced coating viscoelastic, surface chemistry, and biological resistance more effectively compared to that of the functional silicon–polyacrylate one.