THE IONOGEL-BASED COATING TECHNOLOGY
Cidetec has developed a disruptive family of coatings, based on innovative ionogels, that exhibit omniphobic functionality since they are able to repel not only water, oil and organic solvents, but also other species such as greases, ketchup and mustard (Figure 1 and Figure 2).WO2018122428A1 “Coatings having repellent function and use thereof”.
CONCEPT
By combining a covalently anchored cross-linked polymer coating and engineered non-volatile lubricants, a single-phase ionogel coating can be formed. The physicochemical properties and functionality of the resulting coating can be adjusted by adding tailored functional groups to both building blocks (i.e. cross-linked polymer and lubricant). In particular, wettability of these versatile coatings may be tailored, reaching high repellency to fluids, regardless of their surface tension (i.e. omniphobicity).
THE ADVANTAGES
TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES
IN THE CHOPIN PROJECT
The ionogel-based coatings are being tested as novel solution against insect contamination for the aircraft industry. Insect free surfaces would keep the high efficiency of the natural laminar flow (NLF), but also hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC) leading edges as drag reduction technology.
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Figure 1. A polymer composite treated sample shows high slippery properties with no stain for self-cleaning applications.
Figure 2. A steel treated sample for self-cleaning applications.