TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS) The proposed innovative method for spraying UV-curable powders answers a critical NASA need for advanced coatings, and capitalizes on exciting commercial market opportunities. The technology employed combines UV/visible radiation with proprietary thermal spray processing methods yields an effective spray coating system for applying UV-curable powders without the use of solvents. The spray process and the lay-up aspects of the powder spray technology address a NASA mandate for producing Advanced Materials with Reduced Emissions. The advanced materials processed with this technology have application in gas turbines, rocket and turbine-based combined cycle engines. The technology enables efficient high quality application of these advanced materials to fabricate lightweight jet engine components and other critical NASA and commercial equipment components. The Phase I technical objectives were fully achieved by demonstrating feasibility of the novel UV/thermal spray technology to coat surfaces using advanced NASA UV-curable polyimide and various commercial UV-curable polymers. This was demonstrated for powder coating conventional materials, heat-sensitive and low-temperature substrates that included metal, glass, natural wood, paper and plastic. The Phase II technical objective is to develop, fabricate and demonstrate a field portable prototype system. Phase II and Phase III matching resource commitments from the private sector of $680,000 have been obtained.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS The proposed technology will meet critical needs in applying a broad-range of commercially available UV-curable thermoplastic and thermoset polymer powder materials as neat materials and as ?designer? composites, nanocomposites and functionally graded materials. Applications include adhesives, scratch resistant coatings, protective coatings, high-elongation coatings, self-extinguishing coatings, circuit board coatings and electrically conductive coatings. Independent evaluations of several coatings sprayed onto a broad range of substrates in Phase I were made by major UV-curable powder coating manufactures. These evaluations were favorable and resulted in significant commitments by these companies to strategically partner with Montec Research for use of the proposed process for new and expanded applications of their powder coating products. The entire coatings market was valued at $70.6B in 2000. The UV-curable powder coatings have 4%, or $2.8 of the entire coatings market, and its market share is growing at double-digit rates. The furniture and construction industries alone used a combined 48.4 million pounds of UV-curable coatings in 2001. Automotive and appliance manufacturing use over $21.1B of coatings annually and will increasingly look to UV-curable powder coatings for solutions. The architectural coatings market is $30.7B, and will also benefit from the proposed technology. The technology addresses these industrial requirements and others.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip) Lawrence Farrar Montec Research 1901 South Franklin Butte , MT 59701 - 3005
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip) Montec Research 1901 South Franklin Butte , MT 59701 - 3005