Reflection of Aluminum Alloys for Automotive Wheels

In this application note, we evaluated a color shift that occurred with deposition of a thin film of aluminum chrome alloy to a cured, powdercoated wheel. The alloy had been applied to the wheel surface via direct current (DC) sputtering, a deposition process used to coat surfaces with different materials. The objective of the experiment was to investigate the color shift as a function of deposition time, both before and after clear coating with an acrylic powder for UV protection.