Dow Develops Non-Stick, Non-Polluting Coatings

A new non-stick, non-polluting family of coatings that are harder and more resistant to stains than Teflon have been developed by researchers at Dow Chemical Co.

The new materials could be used on cars and furniture to ward off dirt and grime and on walls, buses and subway cars to prevent graffiti. The coatings also have two major advantages over other non-stick finishes, Dow chemist Donald L. Schmidt said here Monday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

They are applied in water and thus do not produce the air-polluting solvent fumes released in applying Teflon and other finishes. The new coatings also could be applied in a regular work space, unlike current solvents, which are often highly toxic and must be applied in expensive fume hoods.

And unlike Teflon, the new materials can be applied over plastics and paints to produce a clear, vandal-proof finish.

Dow is negotiating with other companies that would actually produce and use the coating compounds. The substances could be commercially available in as little as a year, said George Mignin, the company’s director of licensing.

The new coatings are hybrids of Teflon and commercial plastics. The core of the material is a conventional plastic, a long-chain polymer such as the acrylates that are commonly used in paint and clothing.

Schmidt and his colleague, chemist Charles E. Coburn, then grafted two other types of molecules onto this polymer backbone. One such molecule is composed of carbon atoms bonded to fluorine--the same material found in Teflon. This gives the material its hard, resistant surface.

The other molecule is a detergent-like compound that allows the polymer to spread evenly over the surface of the material to be treated. As the polymer dries or is heated lightly, this molecule undergoes a chemical reaction that causes the coating to stick tightly to the surface.

Interestingly, the coating will stick to just about any other clean surface, including Teflon, Schmidt said.

Potential applications for the coating system, he said, include protective stain- and soil-resistant coatings for the outside of buildings, home siding, kitchen cabinet tops, seat coverings and top coats for automobiles. They could also be used to make permanent waxes for automobiles, refrigerators, bathroom vanities, wallpaper and many types of furniture, including vinyl furniture.