Saturday, October 11, 2014

Advantages Of Ultra Dry Waterproof Coating

Advantages Of Ultra Dry Waterproof Coating

By Estelle Larsen


A lot of uses for certain products are in demand by most construction industries. Developments and researches are non stop in advancing the technology that we have today to be able to produce products and methods in providing to these demands. Although there are already existing innovations that can benefit not just these industries but also for others.

These artificial breakthroughs have been mostly referred from the works of nature and has been adapted into technology. For example, the ultra ever dry waterproof coating can deflect any liquid substance from any surface that it has been applied on. This is greatly useful when it comes with decreasing drag on ships and submarines and also with equipment for construction work.

Superhydrophobic surfaces can intensely deflect water which makes it really useful in cases where you need surfaces to stay dry and clean as well. As mentioned, this technology was taken from nature which is called the Lotus Effect. In theory, the contact angle of water droplets should be about one hundred and fifty degrees which is the basis for deflection with a roll off angle that is less ten degrees.

In 1805, Thomas Young defined the makings of contact angles by which forces are acting upon these droplets of water. They are basically surrounded by the air and solid, and the intersection that these two have with the droplet would develop the basis of their contact angles. So visually, you would see that as the droplet is rounded, the angle is higher, therefore lesser contact with the solid surface.

This is developed through nanotechnology where the surface is structured up to that detail and can give exact and better results. The coating that was sprayed on the surface would be able to let the material have this ability. It can be sprayed on any surface like boots, cement, concrete, construction materials and equipment, glass, and others.

This deflects not just water but also hydrocarbons which also makes this Oleophobic. So it repels almost any kind of liquid it would be on. This is very useful when it comes to materials in construction where wet cement and paint should not stick to the funnels and other surfaces.

The coating has its limitations though. When it comes into contact with certain types of chemicals like detergent or mechanical solutions, the effectivity would be stripped off and it would no longer work. This is why it can be very impractical when you are setting this technology in the real world where a lot of environmental factors are in place. This is different with nature where it replenishes and develops the coating by itself.

This has been an issue for this product until a study was made which utilizes porous polymer layers that are made of polyelectrolyte complexes, which then becomes superhydrophobic by coating it with a layer of fluoroalkylsilane. The undercoat which is the polymer layers consists of other layers of poly allylamine hydrochloride and sulfonated PEEK. This then alternate with polyacrylic acid which makes up a thickness of three microns.

These would make the coating durable that even with damage, the superhydrophobic property would still work as long as these layers are on the surface. In their studies, this made a contact angle with fluids to about one sixty degrees. To make it convenient, it repairs itself by bleeding the fluoroalkylsilane through the damaged areas.




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