Lacquer On Silicone

2023 Author: Hannah Pearcy | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 11:39

If you reduce the particles of a substance down to the nano range, its properties sometimes change drastically.

This is the effect of nanotechnology, which, for example, ensures harder layers or fog-free mirrors. An interdisciplinary research team from Kiel's Christian Albrechts University has now tackled the subject of silicone. Better said, despite its non-stick properties, to enable a connection with other materials.

The researchers found the solution as nanoscale zinc oxide crystals in the form of so-called tetrapods, i.e. four-armed elements in sizes from several nanometers to a few micrometers. These crystals act as brackets between the two materials and connect them purely mechanically without chemical changes to the surfaces. If you try to separate the materials, the arms bond all the more to the material.

For example, if you want to connect a Teflon-coated workpiece to a silicone surface, the university researchers first apply zinc oxide crystals homogeneously on the heated Teflon layer and then apply the silicone layer. Then everything is heated to around 100 degrees Celsius. Of course, this method is only suitable for laboratory use, while the Ostholstein-based company Nanoproofed Group is currently working on a practical development.

Nanoproofed is currently developing a way to treat silicon-containing surfaces in such a way that further coating with known coating systems is possible. Here too, the zinc oxide crystals provide the adhesive bond, called interlocking. The coupling could either be provided by a primer-like coating or a pre-produced layer applied to the silicone surface using a transfer film. Which version will ultimately be implemented is currently still open - and should be determined in early 2013 in practical tests with professional users - including painters. This also applies to the application method and the type of activation of interlocking. Warmth seems to be indispensable for this, just like a meticulously prepared surface.

Armin Scharf Photo: Jan Strüben, Xin Jin Source: Malerblatt 12/2012