# What is the Best UV Protective Clear Coat for Sublimation Metal



## MILLERTIME (Apr 22, 2010)

Hi,
Been searching google for UV Protective clear coating for aluminum and brass sublimated items.
Found some but not sure which to buy. Wondered if anyone had experience with any of these products:
SuperShield
Rustoleum - Crystal Clear
ClearJet
Moeller Marine Clear
Permalac

They all claim to block UV and prevent fading, they stay flexible so if metal is bent the coating won't crack or peel.
Sounds like what I need for my products that may be used outside. Just wondered if anyone else had tried any of these or other ones you can recommend?


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

The only stuff I ever tried using was clear satin Krylon, which you can get at home improvement stores. I did go with the satin finish as it was hard to get a good coat using the gloss. The satin hides defects a little better.

There are some aluminum sublimation blanks that supposedly have the UV protection already added. Digital Grafx out of Florida is one such supplier:

UV PLUS! Dye Sublimation Blanks - Digital Grafx

I used their 8x12 and larger signage blanks for quite a number or projects. I used the blanks as-is, and cut into special shapes on my CNC.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

MILLERTIME said:


> Hi,
> Been searching google for UV Protective clear coating for aluminum and brass sublimated items.
> Found some but not sure which to buy. Wondered if anyone had experience with any of these products:
> SuperShield
> ...


Nothing will stop UV from causing sublimation items to fade in the sun. At best you might slow down the process _some_.

If there was a _clear_ coating that could really block UV then we wouldn't needed tinted windshields or tinted sunglasses. 

You cannot filter UV very effectively without also filtering out the desired visible light needed to give things color. 

No light = no color. Less light = less color.


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## ZO6 KLR (Jan 8, 2013)

As Mike stated, the sun will fade almost anything. On our metal that is used outside, we used a catalyzed, 2K clear which means it has two parts: the clear and the catalyst. It is an automotive urethane that is sprayed via an HVLP gun. Hope this helps.


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

Some say Frog Juice Spray works good. Have no experience using it myself tho.


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