September issue: Marine coatings in the focus
The September issue of the European Coatings Journal is out. It features a full package on marine coatings: a market report, a product overview and expert interviews.
Biofouling is still a major issue in the marine environment, as organisms such as bacteria, algae, mussels and barnacles attach themselves to ship hulls and other surfaces, thus leading to increased drag, fuel consumption and costs. Common counteraction is to use antifouling paints, which release biocides into the water and thereby prevent the adhesion of organisms on surfaces.
However, they are controversial from an ecological point of view. “To date, the market is dominated by biocidal antifouling coatings, which continuously release toxic compounds into the environment,“ says Dr Dorothea Stübing, Fraunhofer IFAM, in our Expert Voices section. Learn more about non-bio-cidal alternatives, their benefits and drawbacks on page 18.
In our main technical article, Udo Schonhoff, Carlos Feito, Elke Piron, Jörg Bungarten and Sebastian Heinz of Elementis introduce a novel thixotrope that allows easy application and is capable of withstanding higher amounts of various alcohols and other highly polar solvent components (page 22). Due to its benefits, it is an efficient rheology modifier in the sustainable formulation of industrial and protective coatings.
The complete issue is now also available at our data bank European Coatings 360. European Coatings 360° also provides registered users with the opportunity to conduct your research activities online via our quick and effective full-text search and find exactly the information you need for your daily work in the field of coatings formulation.
