port industry by lowering the
drag of moving through air or
water. In turn, vessels will consume less energy in propulsion.
The team of physicists at the University of Surrey is now collaborating with
six companies through funding from an
EPSRC Knowledge Transfer Account
(KTA). The project is developing ways for
industrial manufacturers to use the
process to create novel coatings to decorate household goods.
Using their simple, low-cost process, it
is possible to create plastic coatings with
small bumps and ridges in sizes ranging
from less than a millimeter to a couple of
centimeters. With the right design, this
texture will reduce the drag forces when
large vessels pass through air or water.
Professor Joseph Keddie, of the Department of Physics, who led the research,
said, “It’s an exciting prospect to have an
impact on the energy consumed by planes
and ships through a straightforward, inexpensive technology. Our process can
create coatings with nearly any desired
texture to meet the particular requirements of an application.
“This new technology has grown out
of several years of polymer and colloids
research within the Soft Matter Physics
Group in collaboration with industrial
partners. Our KTA project will help to
transfer our research ideas into indus-
trial manufacturing.”
There are also other numerous high-
tech applications where the University of
Surrey’s work can be used, such as to cre-
ate tiny lenses to focus light. Applications
of these “micro lenses” are in digital cam-
eras, photocopiers, and solar cells.
The researchers call their process “
infrared radiation-assisted evaporative lithography.” They use beams of infrared
light to heat certain spots on wet coatings
made of tiny plastic particles in water.
The hotter spots evaporate more quickly,
and the plastic particles are then guided
there as the evaporating water is replaced.
The process is simple to use and does not
require expensive equipment. The textured coatings can be used to cover nearly
any surface.
The research has recently been published, with co-authors at AkzoNobel and
at the University of Cambridge, as a cover
article in the prestigious Royal Society of
Chemistry journal, Soft Matter. The scientists have also filed an international
patent application on their process and
are looking for partners to apply the new
technology in applications.
The coatings can also have an attractive visual appearance and interesting textures, making them exciting for new
designs on domestic products.
“Our novel process uses fundamental
concepts of science to create objects with
tremendous aesthetic appeal. The coatings
are beautiful to see,” said Dr Argyrios
Georgiadis, whose experimental work
paved the way for the technology.
Zircotec’s ThermoHold thermal
barrier coating helps Le Mans
Ferrari 458 reduce cockpit
temperatures
The ability to dramatically lower under-bonnet and cockpit temperatures, as well
as prevent damage to the surrounding
bodywork has led Le Mans Series participant JMW Motorsport to use ThermoHold, a ceramic thermal barrier coating
technology from Zircotec. By lowering
temperatures in the Ferrari 458 GTE’s
cockpit, the car’s power-consuming air
conditioning system is needed far less frequently. Minimizing this increases the
car’s performance while still keeping the
driver and engine bay cool.
“Regulations specify the cockpit must
be kept below 32°C during the races,”
said Zircotec’s sales director Peter Why-
man. “Teams have to use air condition-
ing systems that draw power from the
engine. By using our coating we lower
engine compartment temperatures and
minimize heat soak into the cockpit. It’s
a win-win situation.”
Renowned for its beautifully presented
cars, JMW Motorsport searched for a
long lasting solution that would prevent
surrounding bodywork and paint from
peeling or discoloration. “The collectors
run very close to the chassis and body-
work,” said Davey Nichols from Team
JMW Motorsport. “By coating the mani-
folds we have eliminated all the damage
to the painted components and can main-
tain the pristine finish.”
The team is now working with Zircotec to look at other areas of the car
where the effective management of heat
could offer performance, reliability or
durability gains. “Coating the composite
fuel cell is something we could offer to
protect it from heat and lower the fuel
temperature inside,” said Whyman. “In
addition our ZircoFlex foil offers a
lighter alternative flexible foil for cockpit bulkhead. Working together we aim
to find other effective ways to manage
heat and improve performance of the car
and driver.”
Novagard receives UL 746E
approval for Novagard UV 800-
260, a UV curable silicone
conformal coating
Novagard Solutions, Inc., a supplier of
specialty chemical products providing engineered solutions to the automotive,
building construction, electrical, medical,
general industrial and product assembly
industries announces the Underwriters
Laboratories, Inc. listing of Novagard
UV 800-260 to the UL 746E specification under the QMJU2 testing protocol.
This UL testing protocol and specification covers test procedures to be used for
the evaluation of industrial laminates
and other materials for use in fabricating
printed circuit or wiring boards. These
requirements provide data with respect
to the physical, electrical, flammability,
thermal, and other properties of the materials that are intended to provide guidance to the material manufacturer, the
fabricator, the end product manufacturer,
safety and reliability engineers and other
interested parties. Consequently, Novagard UV 800-260 is the only UV curable
silicone conformal coating to be listed
with UL 746E approval for conformal
coatings of printed circuit boards and
control boards for indoor or outdoor applications said the company.
Testing of Novagard UV 800-260
demonstrates cure with extremely fast processing speeds and also incorporates a secondary, moisture cure chemistry for
shadow areas of the coating. The 800-260
UV silicone product is ideally suited in
printed circuit board applications of environments of high humidity, low or high
