Research Projects

Self-healing coating development

Fig 1. Self-healing coatings

Self-healing coatings can combine passive barrier property of classical coatings with active functions to provide automatic repair and recovery. A self-healing coating is generally designed by encapsulating/embedding the healing agent in capsules that are incorporated into the coating matrix. Once triggered, the healing agent will release from the capsules and react to form a cross-linked network, thus healing cracks or repairing damages.

Coating pigment development

Fig 2. Coating system with pigments
Fig 3. Pigment dispersion

New organic pigments are synthesized and developed for coating applications. The new pigmented coatings will have improved UV resistance and good corrosion resistance. The UV resistance function is achieved because the UV light can be reflected and absorbed by pigments and absorbed by the binder. The pigments in the coating matrix can increase the pathways of water penetration to improve the corrosion resistance.

Accelerated testing to evaluate coating performance

Fig 4. Fog chamber
Fig 5. QUV chamber

Accelerated testing methods can apply intensive stresses on coatings to speed up the degradation. Coatings will fail in a shorter time comparing to the actual working environment. They are the commonly used method to evaluate coatings’ performance.