Measuring equipment surely supports R&D specialists in determining the "ideal” physical and chemical coatings parameters, but that is not enough. According to coatings manufacturers, quality assurance is decisive.
Somehow it’s all about biobased polymers these days. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but I have lately come across several novel developments that are also highly interesting for the coatings industry. Two of them I would like to share with you.
Posted at: 2 April 2012 11:33:00 | Posted by: Damir Gagro, Vincentz Network Back to the roots
Going East, even Far East – a trend the European coatings industry has followed even more in the last decade. Expansions, investments and new-builds were announced over and over. No doubt, the companies had to be present in the region where growth is expected and actually takes place in large numbers.
Posted at: 22 March 2012 11:55:00 | Posted by: Natallia Abraztsova, Vincentz Network More than protection
I’m still very fascinated about the topic of functional coatings. Today it is normal, that coatings are anti-ice, anti-scratch, self-healing, water-repellent, - in other words they are multifunctional. But what does "multifunctional” actually mean?
Environmental protection is a word which triggers reactions between shrugging my shoulders, as I already take it for granted, and irritated hearing nerves. But I see the gap between my microcosm of separating eggshell, plastic cups and bean tins and the inconsequent implementation of environmental measures in the chemical industry.
On the one hand more and more waterbased anticorrosive coatings are being developed. On the other hand some applications and substrates still use coatings containing chromates, because they show the best performance. What are the ways to find the balance between performance and sustainability?
There has been a vivid discussion going on during the last weeks about the former plans of the European Commission to stop the generous rules for the use of the label "Made in Germany". Although this plan was not put into action, the topic stayed in peoples' heads. Is the brand that explains, in which country a product was manufactured, of such economic importance? To an extent that it even turns into a surplus of value of its own?
