Special-effect coatings bring livery to life

Special-effect coatings by PPG Industries' aerospace coatings group enabled Virgin Atlantic Airways to have the unique reflectivity and bright, vibrant colour the airline's design and engineering teams wanted for its new livery. The airline has taken delivery of the first new aircraft – an Airbus A330 – painted with Desothane(R) topcoats by PPG Aerospace coloured with Andaro(R) special-effect pigment. The proprietary PPG pigment was used in coatings that create the red tail and engines and the aubergine Virgin Atlantic lettering across the aircraft. The fuselage is painted with Desothane topcoats in high-sparkle silver mica. Traditional mica aircraft coatings have about 30% reflectivity, while coatings with Andaro pigment reflect about 90% of visible light, according to Alex Reid, PPG Aerospace account manager at the North Europe application support centre in Shildon, England. “Virgin Atlantic likes innovative technology,” Reid said. “Because using Andaro pigment in aerospace coatings was new, we worked closely with Virgin's engineering team to get the products approved to apply to their aircraft. We worked alongside their design team to get the unique colours made with Andaro pigment incorporated into their new company identity.” Virgin Atlantic's design team came to PPG with a vision for the colouring. Reid and the PPG Aerospace coatings team sought input from colour experts in PPG's automotive OEM coatings business, and they adapted the Andaro pigment technology for aerospace coating applications. www.ppgaerospace.com