The Taming of the Shrew

Abstract

Although the development of highquality coatings is in fact tricky, there are situations where statistical Design of Experiments (also called DoE or Experimental Design) can be employed effectively. Design of Experiments allows, amongst other things, a quick identification of promising components in the initial raw material screening. This speeds up the development considerably. So why are there so few examples of successful applications of DoE in the area of coatings? For one, high-quality coatings are complex mixtures. A thorough experimental exploration will therefore often require a large number of experiments. Another reason might be the lacking familiarity with the method. Even though the underlying concepts have been known for quite some time [1], many shy away from the seemingly difficult training: Statistics sounds scary2