Business targets
Absolutely all used coatings as well as other polymer materials are subject to the formation and accumulation of fatigue and other defects.
Unlike metal products it is difficult to identify such phenomena in polymer materials that prevents to timely recognize the damaged area of the product and repair or replace it. One of the solutions is to create self-healing materials capable of restoring damaged coating areas.
The projects aims to create a coating that is capable to repair a surface damage, such as cracks or scratches.
Implementation features
There are two types of self-healing materials: with impurities and without impurities.
Self-recovery of materials with impurities is based on monomer microcapsules in the polymer matrix, which contain a reducing agent. If the coating is damaged, the integrity of the capsule is violated, and a reducing agent is released, which, when contacting with ambient air oxygen, cures and thus restores the surface integrity.
The option without impurities is based on the polymerization reversibility and depolymerization reactions of a polymer material. The damaged surface is temperature or UV exposed. It leads to material depolymerization and its transition to the liquid phase. And in this case the liquid composition evenly covers the damaged area. Repeated exposure cures the coating.
See also
UV and IR reflective coatings
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