Development of Combinatorial Chemistry Methods for Coatings:  High-Throughput Weathering Evaluation and Scale-Up of Combinatorial Leads

Abstract

Combinatorial screening of materials formulations followed by the scale-up of combinatorial leads has been applied for the development of high-performance coating materials for automotive applications. We replaced labor-intensive coating formulation, testing, and measurement with a "combinatorial factory" that includes robotic formulation of coatings, their deposition as 48 coatings on a 9x12-cm plastic substrate, accelerated performance testing, and automated spectroscopic and image analysis of resulting performance. This high-throughput (HT) performance testing and measurement of the resulting properties provided a powerful set of tools for the 10-fold accelerated discovery of these coating materials. Performance of coatings is evaluated with respect to their weathering, because this parameter is one of the primary considerations in end-use automotive applications. Our HT screening strategy provides previously unavailable capabilities of (1) high speed and reproducibility of testing by using robotic automation and (2) improved quantification by using optical spectroscopic analysis of discoloration of coating-substrate structure and automatic imaging of the integrity loss of coatings. Upon testing, the coatings undergo changes that are impossible to quantitatively predict using existing knowledge. Using our HT methodology, we have developed several cost-competitive coatings leads that match the performance of more costly coatings. These HT screening results for the best coating compositions have been validated on the traditional scales of coating formulation and weathering testing. These validation results have confirmed the improved weathering performance of combinatorially developed coatings over conventional coatings on the traditional scale.

Orthogonal surface‐grafted polymer gradients: A versatile combinatorial platform

“…Specifically, materials such as catalysts,6 electronic and luminescent materials,7 ceramics, and polymers8, 9 have witnessed intense research efforts devoted toward identifying better formulations by optimizing a number of system variables. Bulk polymeric systems and thin polymer coatings, which are used in a number of industrially relevant applications, were rigorously subjected to HTE to comprehensively map out the structure–property relationship 4, 8–11. In this regard, recent efforts in combinatorial materials research carried out at the National Institute of Standards and Technology9, 12 and the Dutch Polymer Institute8, 10, 11 are noteworthy.…”

“…Bulk polymeric systems and thin polymer coatings, which are used in a number of industrially relevant applications, were rigorously subjected to HTE to comprehensively map out the structure–property relationship 4, 8–11. In this regard, recent efforts in combinatorial materials research carried out at the National Institute of Standards and Technology9, 12 and the Dutch Polymer Institute8, 10, 11 are noteworthy. One major class of thin polymer films that has not yet been fully explored by the aforementioned studies pertains to systems involving surface‐anchored polymers 13.…”

Combinatorial and High‐Throughput Methods in Macromolecular Materials Research and Development

“…[64] Several screening methods were developed to test the coatings for their key performance properties, which included adhesion to the substrate, [139] abrasion resistance, [140,141] and weathering. [142] Researchers at North Dakota State University have developed a comprehensive system for high-throughput coatings development with an initial focus on coatings for underwater marine applications. [69,132,133] Automated systems for polymer synthesis and characterization, coating formulation, [136] coating deposition, [68] and coating analysis have been implemented.…”

A new approach to the rationale discovery of polymeric biomaterials

“…These general concepts of advanced drug discovery are in principle applicable to materials discovery as well. Combinatorial methods, high-throughput experimentation, and computational modeling have been applied to a wide range of materials design challenges, including the discovery of semiconductors [24], coatings [25], catalysts [26], and light emitting phosphors [27]. Based on this, Gao et al concluded that advanced materials discovery tools will play an important role in the emerging nano-and biomaterials fields [28].…”