Aircraft Paint Oxidation
Aircraft Paint:
Ideally, It must handle the unique thermal, mechanical, and UV stresses inherit with flying. Yet be light weight, look good, and be low maintenance. Sad to say that this paint has not yet been invented, let alone applied on the aging General Aviation fleet.
High altitude, high UV flying, large temperature swings, corrosive exhaust, and improper wash and care take their toll on aircraft paint leading to paint oxidation. This process occurs slowly, it is often hard to notice. The new dull finish starts becoming the new normal and over time your aircraft becomes chalky and lackluster. Just check out this aileron. We removed oxidation and you can instantly see all the gloss you have been missing out.
Even if your aircraft “doesn’t look that bad” chances are it is not at its full gloss potential. Here we use a gloss meter to demonstrate this with data!
Paintless Restoration
Our safe and relatively quick process restores the gloss your paint by taking advantage of the paint’s thickness. The loss of gloss due to oxidation happens because the top most layer of paint is damaged, swirled, chalky, stained, or for whatever other reason is no longer reflecting light effectively. By gently removing that damaged layer and leveling any other issues, we reveal a fresh layer of clean paint that looks as good (sometimes better) than new!
Is this safe? Yes! We strictly control how little paint we remove. Airplane total paint thickness varies greatly, but lets assume 100 microns (1/10th of a mili meter). In most cases the amount of paint removed is so minute, about 1-5 microns ( 1/1000th of a mili meter), it is hard to measure a difference in paint thickness, even with a digital paint thickness gauge.
This process by itself will pay huge dividends on the ramp, making your plane stand out. It takes a couple of days for most aircraft and is significantly cheaper, and quicker than repainting.
Ceramic Coating
Oxidized paint is very porous: It stubbornly traps oil, exhaust soot, bugs, and dust. It is also difficult to dry for this very reason. Waxing your airplane provides a temporary improvement in appearance as the pores of the paint are filled with wax. Wax quickly washes away though, and being a labor intensive process, it is certainly not a quick fix.
Removing oxidation does not only improve gloss, but also helps with cleaning. Getting rid of the oxidation removes ingrained staining from engine oil and exhaust soot. The new smoother surface cleans up easier too.
On a molecular level, your paint is still porous. Imagine your paint as a rice crispy bar. A porous matrix of cereal held together by marshmallow. Dirt, oil, etc can easily ingress. Applying a ceramic coating would be like pouring some molten chocolate on the paint. Part of the coating fills in the the matrix, while the rest layers on top providing a durable outer layer. Instead of a soft chocolate coating, we use a ceramic composite coating that is extremely hydrophobic and chemically resistant.
Protect
The ceramic coating bonds to the paint providing extremely durable protection oxidation by isolating the paint from chemical and UV exposure. The coating does not wash off with time, degreasers, or fuel and with proper care will last for many years WITHOUT the need to reapply. There is no other product like this in the aviation market.
Enhance
The preceding paint correction and slick new ceramic layer produce a surface that reflects light much better, resulting in higher gloss and deeper colors. In addition, your aircraft will stay cleaner, longer, with less effort. The less you wash it, the less chances of reintroducing marring. Aircraft treated by Aviana always stand out.
Here is a plane that was coated 4 months prior to this picture was taken (picture at top of page). Still very glossy. No hanger Queens! Plenty of flight time on it too.
Restore your aircraft and get coated!
This isn’t your average aircraft detail job. Give us a call or submit a quote request so we can get the conversation started. We individually quote all projects based on size and complexity and whenever possible try to do a demo area on your aircraft. We look forward to hearing from you!
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