Synergetic Design of Transparent Topcoats on ITO-Coated Plastic Substrate to Boost Surface Erosion Performance

Transparent conductive films (TCFs) have received much research attention in the area of aeronautical canopies. However, bad wear, corrosion resistance and weak erosion performance of TCFs dramatically limit their scalable application in the next-generation aeronautical and optoelectronic devices. To address these drawbacks, three types of optically transparent coatings, including acrylic, silicone and polyurethane (PU) coatings were developed and comparatively investigated ex situ in terms of Taber abrasion, nanoindentation and sand erosion tests to improve the wear-resistance and sand erosion abilities of ITO-coated PMMA substrates. To elucidate the sand erosion failure of the coatings, the nanoindentation technique was employed for quantitative assessment of the shape recovery abilities under probe indentation. Results show that the PU topcoats can greatly enhance the sand erosion properties, which were superior to those of acrylic and silicone topcoats. This result can be attributed to the good toughness and self-healing properties of PU topcoats. Additionally, high hardness and good Taber abrasion properties of the ITO films and silicone topcoats did not have an obvious or affirmatory effect on the sand erosion abilities, based on their brittleness and irreparable properties under sand erosion.