US 6,432,486 B1 · Surface treatments for articles and vehicles

Abstract

A method treats an article and more specifically an aircraft surface in order to prevent icing and to provide a coating that emits very low volatile organic compounds (VOC) during application and setting. Icing on critical aircraft surfaces creates dangerous conditions that impair the stability of the aircraft. The specific areas are referred to as “cold-soak” conditions and some areas on the “leading edges” of the wings. The invention eliminates icing on these surfaces. Ice will not form on the surface of certain polymer coatings with low surface energy such as Teflon. This is a consequence of the high contact angle between the water droplet and the surface that establishes a non-wetting surface. The invention implements such coatings and a deposition process. The coating may be used for other objects such as automobiles, consumer products, such as refrigerators, stoves, etc.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A coating process, comprising the following steps:

(a) selecting cyclic prepolymers from the group consisting of polyester, polycarbonate and polyurethane;
(b) applying the cyclic prepolymers to a surface by a thermal spray or a spray method which uses heat of thermal deposition;
(c) ringbreaking the cyclic prepolymers with a catalyst or heat to polymerize the cyclic prepolymers, while substantially avoiding the evolution of organic content;
and
(d) heat curing the cyclic prepolymers to complete polymerization of the cyclic prepolymers, to thereby form a coating on said surface.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Surface treatments for articles and vehicles

Life of this patent

Surface treatments for articles and vehicles

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18