Gloss retention is one of the most important measures of long-term coating performance. It describes a coating’s ability to maintain its original shine after years of exposure to sunlight, moisture, temperature changes and environmental pollutants. Finish durability helps buildings and infrastructure maintain their appearance, reduces maintenance costs and extends recoating intervals.

Among today’s architectural coating technologies, FEVE (fluoroethylene vinyl ether) fluoropolymer are widely recognized for their long-term weatherability. Accelerated weathering tests and decades of outdoor exposure have demonstrated excellent gloss retention in accelerated and natural weathering studies. As a result LUMIFLON® FEVE-based coatings help structures maintain a clean, vibrant appearance for decades.

What Is Gloss Retention?

Gloss retention is the ability of a coating to maintain its original surface gloss after prolonged outdoor exposure. It is commonly expressed as the percentage of the original gloss remaining after weathering tests or years of service. Coatings with excellent gloss retention resist:

• UV degradation
• Chalking
• Oxidation
• Moisture damage
• Surface erosion
• Environmental pollutants

Importance of Gloss Retention

In addition to preserving a building or structure’s appearance, long-lasting gloss coatings support sustainability by reducing the recoating frequency, lowering material consumption, minimizing maintenance costs and extending the service life of building components.

Since LUMIFLON resins were introduced in 1982 as a soluble FEVE fluoropolymer resins for coating formulations, they have become widely recognized for providing exceptional gloss retention and weathering performance in demanding architectural and industrial environments. Today, FEVE-based coatings protect architectural façades, metal panels, curtain walls, bridges, airports, and other exposed structures around the world.

Why FEVE Coatings Deliver Superior Gloss Retention

Coatings based on LUMIFLON FEVE resins combine excellent weathering resistance with long-term aesthetic durability. Their exceptional gloss retention results from advanced fluoropolymer chemistry that resists:

• Ultraviolet radiation
• Oxidation
• Moisture
• Environmental pollutants
• Surface degradation

Unlike many conventional coatings that gradually lose gloss, can fade and chalk after years of outdoor exposure. Properly formulated FEVE coating systems have demonstrated long-term color and gloss retention during extended exposure testing.

The alternating fluoroethylene and vinyl ether molecular structure contains chemically stable carbon-fluorine bonds within the fluoroethylene segments that resist UV degradation far better than the carbon-hydrogen backbones found in many traditional coating resins.

 

This chemistry allows FEVE coatings to retain their gloss, color, and protective performance through decades of weathering, helping buildings maintain their original appearance long after conventional coatings begin to age.

Weathering Tests Confirm the Superior Gloss Retention

Accelerated laboratory testing and long-term outdoor exposure consistently demonstrate the outstanding long-term gloss performance of FEVE coatings.

QUV-A Accelerated Weathering

QUV-A testing evaluates how coatings resist prolonged ultraviolet exposure under controlled laboratory conditions. As shown below, LUMIFLON FEVE coatings retained a higher percentage of initial gloss than the tested acrylic urethane and polyester urethane systems shown in the comparison.

Accelerated weathering results are formulation-specific and should not be interpreted as a direct prediction of field service life

EMMAQUA Testing

EMMAQUA (Equatorial Mount with Mirrors for Acceleration with Water) testing uses concentrated natural sunlight to accelerate outdoor weathering. In the EMMAQUA data shown, the tested FEVE coating exhibited gloss retention similar to the tested fluoropolymer coatings and higher gloss retention than the tested acrylic urethane coating.

LUMIFLON FEVE resins may be formulated into solvent borne, waterborne and powder coating systems for both factory-applied and field-applied applications to maintain excellent long-term gloss performance.

Florida Outdoor Weathering

Natural outdoor exposure remains the ultimate test of coating durability.  Florida’s intense UV radiation, heat, humidity and frequent rainfall create a widely used location for evaluating coating weatherabilityfor evaluating architectural coatings.

After ten years of Florida exposure, FEVE coatings maintained excellent color and retained gloss demonstrated long-term color and gloss retention under South Florida exposure conditions, while significantly outperforming high-performance polyester coatings.

A separate ten-year Florida weathering study evaluated both pigmented and clear FEVE coatings. The pigmented yellow coating retained 100% of its original gloss after four years of exposure and approximately 70% after ten years. The clear coating retained more than 80% of its original gloss after three years and approximately 70% after ten years.

These results demonstrate long-term gloss retention for the formulations evaluated in this exposure study.

Where Gloss Retention Matters Most

LUMIFLON-based coatings are available in a broad range of colors and a wide range of finishes, from high gloss to low sheen and matte.  More than 150,000 industrial and architectural structures worldwide have been protected with FEVE technology including:

• Architectural metal panels
• Curtain walls
• Bridges
• Stadiums and arenas
• Airports and transportation terminals
• High-rise commercial and residential buildings

Proven in the Real-World Applications

River City Condos

The award-winning River City Condos in Toronto feature aluminum composite panels finished with LUMIFLON FEVE resin technology, illustrating the design flexibility and aesthetic durability possible with coating systems formulated using LUMIFLON FEVE resin technology.

Buri Al Arab Hotel

The Burj Al Arab in Dubai relies on LUMIFLON coatings to maintain long-term gloss retention and weathering performance despite intense sunlight, high humidity, salt air, and airborne pollutants.

Florida’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge

LUMIFLON-based coatings provide exceptional color and gloss retention for Florida’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge, demonstrating the use of FEVE technology in demanding coastal infrastructure applications.

Why Architects Specify FEVE-Based Coatings

When selecting high-performance architectural coatings, long-term appearance is just as important as corrosion protection.

FEVE coatings offer several advantages:

• Outstanding gloss retention
• Excellent color retention
• Superior UV resistance
• Minimal chalking
• Long service life
• Lower maintenance costs
• Reduced recoating frequency
• Field or factory application capability

Together, these benefits may contribute to lower life-cycle costs depending on project conditions and maintenance requirements.

Download the LUMIFLON FEVE resin brochure to learn more about its applications, testing results and performance advantages.

Frequently Asked Questions About Gloss Retention

What is gloss retention in coatings?

Gloss retention is a coating’s ability to maintain its original surface shine over time. It is typically expressed as the percentage of the coating’s original gloss remaining after accelerated weathering tests or years of outdoor exposure.

Why is gloss retention important for architectural coatings?

High gloss retention helps buildings and infrastructure maintain their appearance for longer while reducing the need for recoating. Longer-lasting coating systems may help reduce maintenance costs, reduce material consumption, and extend the service life of building components.

What causes a coating to lose gloss?

Coatings can gradually lose gloss because of exposure to UV radiation, oxidation, moisture, surface erosion and environmental pollutants. Over time, these conditions can degrade the coating surface and lead to fading and chalking.

How is gloss retention tested?

Gloss retention can be evaluated through accelerated laboratory testing and long-term natural outdoor exposure. This blog post discusses QUV-A testing, which uses controlled UV exposure; EMMAQUA testing, which uses concentrated natural sunlight; and Florida outdoor weathering, which exposes coatings to intense UV radiation, heat, humidity and rainfall.

How does FEVE resin improve gloss retention?

FEVE resins have an alternating fluoroethylene and vinyl ether molecular structure with strong carbon-fluorine bonds. These bonds provide excellent resistance to UV degradation, helping FEVE coatings maintain their gloss, color, and protective performance through decades of outdoor exposure.

How long can FEVE coatings retain their gloss?

This blog post cites both accelerated and long-term outdoor testing demonstrating LUMIFLON FEVE’s durability. In one ten-year Florida study, a pigmented FEVE coating retained approximately 70% of its original gloss after ten years, while a clear FEVE coating also retained approximately 70% after ten years.

How does FEVE gloss retention compare with other coating technologies?

The weathering studies discussed in this article show that the tested FEVE coating systems exhibited gloss retention similar to other tested fluoropolymer coatings and higher than the tested acrylic urethane coating under the reported test conditions.

Does high gloss retention reduce maintenance costs?

Yes. A coating that maintains its appearance longer can extend the time between recoating projects. This can reduce maintenance costs, coating material consumption, and the disruption associated with repainting buildings and infrastructure.

Header photo credit: © Florida Department of Transportation