High-transparency hydrophobic anti-smudge coatings
A new study describes the formulation of a highly transparent, hydrophobic, hard and flexible coatings based on a novel melamine-formaldehyde resin synthesised by hydrophobic melamine.
In recent years, the application of highly transparent hydrophobic coatings for anti-smudge of electronic displays, automotive glass surfaces, and solar cell surfaces has attracted significant attention. Melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resin has high transparency and hardness, but due to its own brittleness, there are still some research gaps in the application of high transparent hydrophobic coatings. In a new work, a novel hydrophobic melamine was prepared by modifying melamine with stearyl chloride.
Performance advantages
Based on the hydrophobic melamine and alcohol modifier, a novel MF resin was prepared, which was used to fabricate high-transparency hydrophobic coatings. Long-chain alkyl materials offered low surface free energy property, and polyethylene glycol was introduced to improve the flexibility of MF resins. Therefore, the novel melamine resin coating has the performance advantages of high transparency (>95 %), high hardness (8H), high toughness (1 mm), high gloss, excellent abrasion resistance and hydrophobicity (water contact angle 104°), as well as good self-cleaning ability.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 179, June 2023.
