Investigation of cure and nanomechanical properties of weatherable UV-cured hardcoats

 
The majority of automotive polycarbonate headlamp lenses are coated with UV-curable coatings in order to improve weathering performance as well as abrasion and chemical resistance to fulfill SAE/FMVSS requirements. In this study the use of different UV-lamps and their impact on physical properties of 3-5 year weatherable coatings for automotive headlamps is summarized. Double bond conversion was measured by FTIR-ATR and nanoindentation was tested and correlated with cure and typical physical property techniques.