The Hidden Factor in Automotive Reliability
Every joint, seal, and coating in automotive manufacturing plays a crucial role in performance, aesthetics, and, most importantly, safety. Yet, one fundamental factor that determines whether these elements succeed or fail is often overlooked: surface quality.
Surface quality—specifically, the molecular-level condition of a material’s surface—is the key to ensuring adhesives bond properly, coatings adhere uniformly, and seals remain intact. However, maintaining consistent surface quality is challenging, especially in a fast-paced, cost-driven industry. When surface quality is ignored, the consequences include increased warranty claims, rework, and even large-scale recalls.
For those in quality, engineering, or operations, now is the time to take a closer look at surface processes and drive meaningful change within your organization and across the industry.
The Challenge: Surface Quality Is Critical—But Invisible
One of the biggest obstacles to ensuring surface quality is that it can't be detected with the naked eye. Contamination or surface degradation that affects adhesion occurs at the molecular level, making it difficult to identify until failure happens.
Compounding this issue is the automotive industry’s relentless focus on high production volume and cost efficiency. As Andy Reeher, CEO of Brighton Science, explained during a recent automotive forum in Detroit:
"Automotive and consumer products tolerate non-zero product failure rates because quality improvements may interfere with production rate or cost too much."
This trade-off between speed and quality creates a blind spot, especially when manufacturers lack standardized, objective measurements to assess surface readiness.
Why the Automotive Industry Struggles with Surface Quality
Ensuring proper surface quality is challenging in any industry, but automotive manufacturers face unique hurdles:
- High-Volume Production Pressures: Automotive plants prioritize speed and efficiency, often pushing surface preparation aside to maintain throughput. Stopping to verify surface quality can be seen as a disruption rather than a necessity.
- Complex Supply Chains: With multiple suppliers contributing parts to each vehicle, inconsistencies in surface preparation introduce hidden risks. Variations in cleaning processes, contamination levels, and handling procedures often remain undetected until problems arise.
- Human Variability: Surface preparation frequently involves manual processes, such as wiping, priming, or handling components. Differences in technique, training, or even environmental conditions introduce variability that affects surface quality.
- Lack of Surface Knowledge: Many engineers and production teams lack a deep understanding of surface chemistry. Without education and awareness, surface preparation is often treated as an afterthought rather than a critical process.
Brighton Science calls this the surface quality knowledge gap—and closing it is essential to reducing adhesion-related failures across the industry.
A Data-Driven Solution: Measuring What Matters
The good news? Surface quality can be measured and controlled with water contact angle measurement. This simple yet powerful technique provides real-time insight into a surface’s readiness for bonding, sealing, or coating by quantifying surface energy—a key indicator of adhesion success.
The importance of this method is recognized in ASTM D8597-24, the newly established standard for contact angle measurement using portable goniometers. This standard, developed with input from Brighton Science, provides a structured framework for evaluating surface wettability and ensuring reliable adhesion processes, and ensures that portable goniometers could be used effectively across industries, including automotive.
Dr. Giles Dillingham, Founder & Chief Scientist at Brighton Science, emphasizes:
"If your product quality depends on surface condition, you need to measure it somewhere in your manufacturing process. Otherwise, you're flying blind."
By integrating contact angle measurement into process control, automotive manufacturers can:
- Identify Critical Control Points in their production lines.
- Detect contamination or degradation before failures occur.
- Standardize surface quality across global supply chains.
- Ensure consistent, high-quality adhesion in every vehicle produced.
Driving Change: What Automotive Professionals Can Do
Improving surface quality starts with action. Whether you’re in quality, engineering, or operations, here’s how you can lead the charge:
- Start the Conversation: Raise awareness within your organization about the importance of surface quality. Adhesion failures impact not just individual plants but entire industries.
- Advocate for Measurement: Push for objective measurement tools like water contact angle analysis to move beyond guesswork and subjective evaluations.
- Collaborate with Suppliers: Establish surface energy specifications and demand consistent processes across your supply chain to ensure reliability.
- Promote Education: Encourage training in surface chemistry for design, materials, and production teams. When teams understand surface science, they make informed decisions that prevent costly failures.
Conclusion: You Can't Control What You Don't Measure
Surface quality may be invisible, but its impact on automotive safety, reliability, and cost is undeniable. By prioritizing data-driven measurement and proactive process control, manufacturers can reduce failures, cut costs, and deliver vehicles that meet the highest standards.
The automotive industry is at a crossroads: Will we continue to accept adhesion failures as an unavoidable cost of doing business? Or will we raise the bar and take control of the invisible factors that determine success?
It starts with you. Drive the change.
