title: Development of combinatorial chemistry methods for coatings: high-throughput optimization of curing parameters of coatings libraries.
abstract: An automated analytical system has been implemented for the high-throughput optimization of processing conditions such as curing parameters in fabrication of UV-cured automotive organic protective coatings. Selection of optimum process conditions of combinatorial arrays of coatings is essential to correlate the high-throughput screening and conventional processes and to achieve the desired physical properties of coatings. For monitoring of curing conditions of each coating in the array, a viscosity-sensitive fluorophore 4,4'-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)stilbene was incorporated into coating formulations. This fluorescence tagging approach permitted us to combine a gradient temperature heater and a UV curing system with the full capabilities of our high-throughput screening system, including generation of spectroscopic data and its analysis. This investigation demonstrated the possibility of rapid decoupling of temperature and radiation effects in curing of UV-curable coating formulations by using multiple coatings and process conditions at once. While the system described here was implemented for high-throughput optimization of temperature conditions of radiation curing of arrays of organic protective coatings for automotive applications, this system can be further applied for a variety of other applications where optimization of process parameters can be studied in situ or off-line using optical spectroscopic tools.
authors.affiliation: Global Research Center, General Electric Company, Schenectady, New York 12301, USA. Potyrailo@crd.ge.com
authors.forename: Radislav A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Potyrailo
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Medford
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Brennan