Interiors, Coatings & Appearance Engineering

The materials science of interiors and exteriors: substrates, coatings, paints, soft-touch, grain, color, and the appearance-failure modes customers feel.

Private cohorts & on-site
Format: 2-day (8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.)
Level: Intermediate
Location: Scheduled on demand · on-site at your facility or a regional venue
Date(s): Not yet scheduled for open enrollment. Get notified when it is, or book it privately for your team.
Includes: Certificate of Completion · printed slide binder · take-home reference text

Get notified when this course is scheduled

One email when dates are set. Or skip the wait: run it as a private cohort, on-site at your plant.

Talk to us about a private cohort
  • One email, no sequence
  • Never shared
  • Reply within one business day

Faculty

Faculty details for this seminar will be announced with the full schedule.

Fees

Early: $1,895 (payment 4+ weeks ahead)
Standard: $2,095 (check/ACH) · $2,165 (card)

Group discount: $200 off per attendee for 3+ from the same organization.

Also Available

  • Corporate on-site delivery at your facility
  • Private cohort sessions
  • Digital curriculum licensing

Seminar Overview

Aesthetic and tactile failure is a real, expensive failure — and interiors materials engineering is a discipline most mechanical engineers never study. Taught by the former VP of Global Advanced Development and Material Engineering at International Automotive Components, this seminar covers the materials science of automotive interiors and exterior finishes: substrates, coatings, paints, soft-touch, grain, color, and the appearance + wear failure modes customers actually feel and see. It bridges the gap between polymer science and the appearance programs that move the customer.

Ideal Learner

  • Interiors and exteriors engineers at OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers
  • Materials engineers developing appearance systems
  • Coatings and paint technologists
  • Product engineers responsible for perceived quality
  • Instrument-panel, door-trim, and fascia component suppliers

Learning Objectives

  • Explain the structure of interior/exterior appearance systems (substrate, primer, base, clear)
  • Select substrates and coatings for a defined appearance and durability target
  • Diagnose appearance failure: blistering, delamination, discoloration, telegraphing, orange-peel
  • Control gloss, color, grain, and soft-touch across production and temperature
  • Specify and validate an appearance system end-to-end

Consulting Sessions

Seminar attendees can sign up for individual consulting sessions with the instructor. Sessions are free for registered attendees, first-come first-served — sign up when registering by calling 248-539-0473 or during the seminar.

Seminar Outline

  • Substrates: TPO, PC/ABS, PP, TPE and their surface behavior
  • Adhesion promotion, primers, base coats, clear coats
  • Why the interface fails before the layer does
  • Solvent vs. waterborne vs. powder, and 2K systems
  • Paint chemistry, cure, and film properties
  • Color, metamerism, and the appearance of appearance
  • Soft-touch and TPE molding for tactile quality
  • Grain, texture, and laser/electronics integration
  • Fogging, odor, and interior regulatory performance
  • Blistering, delamination, chalking, fading, orange peel, telegraphing
  • Distinguishing adhesion vs. cohesive failure
  • Environmental and UV-driven appearance degradation
  • Appearance specifications, gloss/color standards, gage R&R
  • Accelerated weathering and appearance durability testing
  • Supplier qualification and audit
  • Attendees specify an interior trim appearance system
  • Define the validation plan
  • Present the build-to-look-and-last case

More in Track B — Composites & Lightweighting

Full Course Catalog