Investigation of Automotive Detailing Products by Ellipsometry and Contact Angle Analysis |
| F. Placido, R. Birney and J. Kavanagh
Thin Film Centre, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, UK |
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| Within the automotive detailing community, there is much discussion focusing on the application of waxes and sealants to enhance and protect paint, and there are a very large number of commercial products on the market. The general idea behind the application of such products is that a wax or sealant layer or layers can increase gloss and "depth of colour", provide protection against degradation by ultraviolet rays and also make it easier to keep the paint surface clean by shedding and repulsion of rain water. In this paper, the performance of several commercially available automotive waxes and sealants is examined. In the absence of any available published work, we have used ellipsometry to determine the thicknesses of applied wax and sealant layers and have quantified the water beading effect by measuring the contact angles of water with the wax films. |
| DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.116.712 PACS numbers: 81.40.-z, 68.03.Cd, 81.40.Tv, 81.65.Ps |