PPG expands aerospace coatings development, color capabilities at UK facility

PPG has expanded development and technical-service capabilities for aerospace and military coatings at its Shildon, England, facility with a US$2m investment supporting installation of advanced-technology equipment for evaluating paint characteristics. Environmentally controlled spray booths and a suite of complementary rooms now enable the PPG site to streamline new-product launches and produce more-exact color matches. One paint spray booth, which can house an aircraft section or small military vehicle, provides variable temperature and humidity settings for product development and training. A second paint spray booth, which maintains constant temperature and relative humidity settings, is designed for applying coatings to panels for customer color-match requests. An expanded testing laboratory has a dedicated color-mixing area and constant temperature and humidity settings. New sanding, drying and oven rooms afford the full range of application processing from preparation to drying in controlled environments.