Painted composite thermoplastic articles

1. A molded article comprising a thermoplastic polymer composition, said molded article prepared by a process comprising the following steps:

(a) placing a thermoplastic polymeric film of about 8 mils to about 20 mils thickness comprising at least one polyester or polyamide having first and second surfaces opposite to each other into a mold;

(b) overmolding onto the first surface of the thermoplastic polymeric film a thermoplastic polymeric composition comprising from about 20 to about 60 percent by weight of at least one thermoplastic polymer and from about 40 to about 80 percent by weight of at least one reinforcing agent;

(c) coating the second surface of the thermoplastic polymeric film with a coating having a total dry film build of 68 μm to 85 μm to provide a molded article;

wherein the reinforcing agent has a fiber length of 2 mm to 7 mm after overmolding;

wherein the surface of the coating on the thermoplastic polymer film of the molded article has a Wb value of 30 or less as measured by a BYK-Gardner wave scan DOI instrument; and

wherein the thermoplastic polymeric composition having a tensile modulus of at least about 11 GPa, as measured by ISO method 527-2:1993 at a rate of 5 mm/min on test specimens having a thickness of 4 mm; a notched Charpy impact strength of at least about 35 kJ/m 2 , as measured by ISO method 179-1:2000.

2. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymer composition comprises at least one polyamide and/or at least one polyester.

3. The molded article of claim 2 , wherein the polyamide is a semi-aromatic polyamide.

4. The molded article of claim 3 , wherein the semi-aromatic polyamide is hexamethylene adipamide/hexamethylene terephthalamide copolyamide and/or hexamethylene terephthalamide/2-methylpentamethylene terephthalamide copolyamide.

5. The molded article of claim 2 , wherein the polyester is one or more of poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(1,3-propylene terephthalate), poly(1,4-butylene terephthalate), poly(ethylene naphthalate), and poly(1,4-cyclohexyldimethylene terephthalate).

6. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing agent is glass fibers and/or carbon fibers.

7. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymeric composition comprises about 30 to about 50 weight percent thermoplastic polymer and about 50 to about 70 weight percent reinforcing agent.

8. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymeric composition has a tensile modulus of at least about 13 GPa.

9. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymeric composition has a notched Charpy impact strength of at least about 40 kJ/m 2 .

10. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the polyamide or polyester of the thermoplastic polymeric film comprises poly(ethylene terephthalate); hexamethylene adipamide/hexamethylene terephthalamide copolyamide; and/or hexamethylene terephthalamide/2-methylpentamethylene terephthalamide copolyamide.

11. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymeric film comprises at least one nanoclay in the shape of fibrils having number average diameters less than or equal to about 70 nanometers and number average lengths of up to about 1000 nanometers.

12. The molded article of claim 11 , wherein the nanoclay is sepiolite and/or montmorillonite.

13. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymeric film comprises electroconductive carbon black having a surface area of at least 700 m2/g and an oil absorption of from 2 to 4 mL/g.

14. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymeric film comprises at least one ion conductive polymer.

15. The molded article of claim 14 , wherein the ion conductive polymer is at least one polyetheresteramide.

16. The molded article of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymeric film comprises at least one layer comprising ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymers, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymers, ethylene/vinyl alcohol/vinyl acetate copolymers, and/or ionomeric polymers.