| abstract |
An interior automotive skin material comprises a thermoplastic resinous base coat/clear coat paint film (16, 20) bonded to the outer surface of a thermoplastically formable semi-rigid resinous backing sheet (22). The base coat/clear coat paint film (16, 20) is preferably formed by dry paint transfer techniques in which the clear coat layer (16) and pigmented base coat layer (12) are coated on a polyester carrier and dried, followed by transfer-laminating the base coat/clear coat paint film (16, 20) from the carrier to the backing sheet (22) on which the clear coat layer (16) forms a low gloss protective outer surface. The clear coat material preferably comprises an alloy of an acrylic resin and a fluoropolymer resin, preferably polyvinylidene fluoride. The low surface gloss of the outer clear coat is produced by a dispersed fine particulate filler such as silica combined with coating the outer clear coat layer on a matte carrier. Thermoforming of the composite laminate to a three-dimensionally shaped contour lowers the surface gloss of the outer clear coat to an extremely low 60 degree gloss level of less than about 15 units, more preferably less than about 10 gloss units. In one embodiment, the gloss level is less than about 2 gloss units. |