Coating for Impact Resistance and Mechanical Improvement

Coatings for Impact Resistance and Mechanical Enhancement Polymer coatings are widely used as a protective layer in various applications such as surface corrosion prevention, penetration resistance and impact protection. While improving the mechanical properties of coatings such as impact resistance is important, it remains quite challenging given current material systems and processes. Drawing inspiration from bottom-up production and energy distribution mechanisms in natural organisms, researchers considered four critical factors in material design: chemical composition, nano/microstructure, architecture and manufacturing techniques. As a protective material, they developed a self-wrinkling photo-cured coating containing a microphase-separated structure with a gradient cross-linked architecture. The self-wrinkled surface morphology induced by photo-polymerization and the intrinsic gradient architecture created by gradient cross-linked polymer networks are critical factors for energy distribution and impact resistance of the cured coating, providing mechanically improved properties verified both theoretically and experimentally. This coating, which can be described as a self-folding coating, was produced using the same single-step approach as conventional photo-cure coating compared with extremely sophisticated tools (i.e., molding, nano/micro printing, laser ablation and soft lithography), and has opened new possibilities for photo-cured coatings. Academic Reference: Jin Li et al, Self-wrinkling coating for impact resistance and mechanical enhancement, Science Bulletin (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2023.08.021 Source