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Trial Offers SUPPLEMENT to ien FINISHING WORLD IEN / OCTOBER '16 21 www.ien.com FEATURE The Latest: Automotive, Waterproof Coatings and 3D Printing A s summer winds down, and industry heats up, stakeholders in the fi nishing market are faced with new technologies and business impacts. Here are the latest updates and advancements to hit the fi nishing sector: New Superhydrophobic Coating Could Transform Waterproofi ng Science Daily is reporting that a new protective coating being developed by scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) could eventually be used to waterproof mobile phones, prevent ice from forming on airplanes or protect boat hulls from corroding. The water-repellent, or superhydrophobic, coating is also allegedly transparent and extremely resistant to ultraviolet radiation. In addition to waterproofi ng, the new ability to control the properties of materials could be applied to a wide range of other coa tings, said PhD student William Wong, from the Nanotech- nology Research Laboratory at the ANU Research School of Engineering."A lot of the func- tional coatings today are very weak, but we will be able to apply the same principles to make robust coatings that are, for example, anti-corrosive, self-cleaning or oil-repellent," he said. Automotive Refi nish Coatings Market Expected to Reach $10.8B; Water-borne Varieties to Prevail According to a report from Transparency Market Research, the global market for automotive refi nish coatings should reach $10.8B by 2024, and features a markedly high level of consolida- tion, with the top fi ve companies accounting for a share of over 65% of the global market in 2015. Strict regulatory reforms related to VOC emissions from coatings, especially across de- veloped regions such as North America and Europe have led to a substantial reduction in demand for solvent-based coatings, says the report, and the trend has compelled many key manufacturers to increase focus on the development of effective water-borne varieties of automotive refi nish coatings in the past few years. GE Plans to Acquire Additive Manufacturing Companies for $1.4B GE has announced plans to acquire two suppliers of additive manufacturing equipment, Arcam AB and SLM Solutions Group AG, for $1.4 billion. Both companies will report into David Joyce, President & CEO of GE Aviation. Joyce will lead the growth of these businesses in the additive manufacturing equipment and services industry. In addition, he will lead the integration effort and the GE Store initiative to drive ad- ditive manufacturing applications across GE. GE expects to grow the new additive business to $1 billion by 2020 and also expects $3-5 bil- lion of product cost-out across the company over the next ten years. The acquisitions include: • Arcam AB, based in Mölndal, Sweden, who invented the electron beam melting machine for metal-based additive manufacturing, and also produces advanced metal powders. • SLM Solutions Group, based in Lübeck, Germany, who produces laser machines for metal-based additive manufacturing with customers in the aerospace, energy, health- care, and automotive industries.