Nanotech Designs Better Coatings

As technology, consumer goods, and industrial machinery progresses and becomes ever more specialized, so too do the demands on the coatings that protect them all.

Today, a large number of these demands and coating properties can be provided with nanomaterials.

The reasons for using nanotechnology to develop coatings are manifold. For example, nanomaterial-containing coatings can provide improved material and processing properties, such as high elasticity, fast drying, increased indentation resistance, no expansion after contact with water, and high water vapour permeability.

In comparison with conventional products, coatings made with nanomaterials are able to combine contradictory properties. This means that while a conventional coating may be given added hardness this may also make it brittle or flake easily. In contrast, a nanocoating can, for example, be hard while also maintaining elasticity.

Nanomaterials can improve a coating’s interaction with the surface it is used on, improving the lifespan of both the coating and the object it is protecting. Nanomaterials can also improve opacity, enhance colour effects, or they can be transparent.

There are also a number of environmental benefits to using nanomaterials in coatings, as their improved performance can result in a thinner layer required, reduce the number of layers applied, or reduce the need for toxic solvents and VOCs. Their surfaces can also be self-cleaning or ‘easy-to-clean’, lessening the time and energy spent on cleaning and lowering the amount of detergent and cleaning agents used.

Because of this wide-range of benefits, nanomaterial-based coatings are now used on automobiles, ships, in the aerospace industry, on household appliances, in buildings (both interior and exterior), on military hardware, and on machinery.

One such coating which takes advantage of nanomaterials is NANO CR Coating; a chemically resistant paint for use in aggressive environments.

Made by the Prague-based company NANO CHEMI GROUP (who sponsor this webpage), NANO CR Coating is an epoxy-based paint designed specifically for use on trucks, tanks, and equipment for storing, transporting, or using high concentrations of industrial materials, such as salts or acids.

This can have real practical gain that actually saves money.

For example, NANO CHEMI GROUP’s chemical resistant coating can be applied to equipment used during the phosphate mining process. By protecting the expensive vehicles, storage containers, and mining equipment, the coating lowers long-term production costs.

“Other laboratory tests on a combination of nanomaterials in epoxy coatings have shown promising chemical resistance against KOH, NAOH, SO4, Chlorine, phosphoric and sulphur acids,” explains Alexandra Chepak, NANO CHEMI GROUP’s Market Development Manager.

Due to the nature of the raw materials being extracted, as well as the ammonium acetate salt, diamine tetra-acetic, and hydrochloric acids used during the extraction process, NANO CHEMI GROUP’s chemical resistant coating is ideal for creating a protective barrier to restrict corrosion on the expensive equipment being used.

The final consumer can apply the specially designed coating to vehicles used to transport phosphate during mining as well as after extraction.

Extraction and delivery equipment used for other materials may also benefit from a chemical resistant coating made with nanomaterials. This includes potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ammonium acetate salt, or numerous other acids, salts, and corrosive substances.

In addition to NANO CHEMI GROUP’s ‘off-the-shelf’ products, the company is also able to research and develop tailor-made nanomaterial coatings with properties specially designed for individual needs.

These include:

·       Paint colour brilliance and colour effect

·       Chemical stability

·       Scratch resistance

·       Increased elasticity and flow

·       Electroconductivity

·       Light protection

·       Adhesion strength

·       Anti-corrosion properties

·       Fire retardancy

This functional product development is thanks to work conducted at internationally renowned universities.

Meanwhile future product design will be performed at the company’s Nanomaterial Research Centre due for completion at the end of 2021. A centre created specifically for nanotechnology products for industry – the only one in the Czech Republic.

Due to this dedicated facility, as well as the company’s close cooperation with nanomaterial researchers from Germany, the Ukraine, Czechia, and Luxembourg, NANO CHEMI GROUP is able to provide industrial manufacturers with the products they need to save time and energy, as well as improve the longevity of their equipment, storage, and transportation devices.

To find out more about how NANO CR coating can protect your equipment or how nanotechnology can improve industrial products, visit: NANO CHEMI GROUP.

Photo credit: shibang from Pixabay,  Ricardo Gomez Angel from Unsplash, Louis Reed, & NANO CHEMI GROUP