Developing hybrid antifouling paints
The objectives of a study are to measure the efficiency of a hybrid system for antifouling paint and to observe the influence of the physico-chemical properties of the binder on the antifouling activity.
Poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) homopolymers are already used as binder for different antifouling strategies.
Efficiency close to a commercial paint
The use of the block copolymer should allow to mix the properties of erosion and hydrophobicity to obtain a more efficient paint with a reduced environmental impact. Paints containing triblock copolymer were immersed in seawater in Lorient (France) harbour to evaluate their antifouling activities. The water absorption, the degradation and the surface properties of the copolymer were measured in distilled water to understand the influence of the binder characteristics in the resulting antifouling properties. The hybrid paints have shown efficiency close to a commercial paint during their immersion in situ in spite of inadequate static conditions of test.
The study is published in: Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 87, October 2015, Pages 10–19
