Saving R&D time while reliably bringing new material formulations into nearproduction coating processes in a cost efficient way: A clear benefit offered by Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC with a novel coating plant especially designed for easy up-scaling. Find more on this and other news around the development, application and characterization of functional barrier coatings at the Fraunhofer ISC booth 142 in hall 5 at the European Coating Show which takes place from April 21 to 23 in Nuremberg.
Functional coatings are an ideal way to provide products with new properties by using just a minimum of extra material. Fraunhofer ISC develops customized advanced coatings, e. g. based on ORMOCER®s (Trademark of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V., München, in Germany), for all kinds of applications and substrates. To implement these new materials in industrial production they must be adapted to match wet chemical coating processes on site to keep costs low.
The roll-to-roll coating plant recently established at Fraunhofer ISC is of modular design and thus allows adaptation of coating materials on pilot scale in maximum bandwith of 500 mm. Critical material and process parameters can be tested and approved long before transferring them to the actual industrial plant.
The in-house coating unit is suitable to work with all kinds of substrates, from plastic films to metal or ceramic foils, and with all kinds of coating materials such as hybrid or organic polymers, inorganic sol-gel materials or silicon.
Application and curing processes are equally adaptable, and switching from one material system to another is fast and easy.
An extra benefit: The roll-to-roll coating plant is located in a clean room of class ISO 8 according to DIN EN ISO 14644-1. This ensures high quality, extremely fault-free coating as, e. g., required for functional or optical coatings.
So, Fraunhofer ISC has added new potential to customized coating and coating application R&D.
For further information: www.fraunhofer.de