Design, validation, and implementation of an opticalspectroscopic system for high-throughput analysis ofcombinatorially developed protective organic coatings arereported. Our approach replaces labor-intensive coatingevaluation steps with an automated system that rapidlyanalyzes 8 × 6 arrays of coating elements that arediscretely deposited on a single plastic substrate. Eachcoating element of the library is 10 mm in diameter and2-5
m thick. Performance of coatings is evaluated withrespect to their resistance to wear abrasion because thisparameter is one of the primary considerations in end-use applications. Upon testing, the coating materialsundergo changes that are impossible to quantitativelypredict using existing knowledge. Coatings are abradedusing industry-accepted abrasion test methods at a singleor multiple abrasion conditions followed by the high-throughput analysis of abrasion-induced light scatter. Thedeveloped automated system is optimized for the analysisof diffusively scattered light that corresponds to 0-30%haze. System precision of 0.1-2.5% relative standarddeviation provides capability for the reliable ranking ofcoatings performance. Although the system was implemented for high-throughput screening of combinatoriallydeveloped organic protective coatings for automotiveapplications, it can be applied for a variety of otherapplications for which materials ranking can be achievedusing optical spectroscopic tools.