The Waterborne Symposium

Co-authors
Douglas Ngo, Amber Bui, John Pojman
Abstract
Conventional non-skid coatings are applied to the decks of marine vessels to provide both an anti-slip surface and a corrosion barrier. Traditional coating systems are composed of a two-part formulation that can take several hours to cure. Variables, such as mix ratios, non-constant environmental conditions, poor application, and water exposure, can lead to improper cure or unsatisfactory nonskid coatings resulting in coating failure, expensive rework, or missed scheduling deadlines. Louisiana State University has developed one component cure-on-demand non-skid coating engineered for a cure-to-service within minutes after cure initiation. The coating is based on free-radical frontal polymerization (FP) of acrylates and cures within minutes with the use of an infrared heater. In FP, a front propagates in a localized reaction zone in which monomer is converted into polymer as the front passes through an unstirred medium. This method can be used to rapidly cure highly filled and or thick coatings. The extended pot life and ability to selectively cure the coating will reduce waste, prevent error due to short working times, and improve operational availability by reducing the downtime from long cure-to-service times. The cure-on-demand coating was formulated to meet the performance requirements of the Navy. The kinetics, mechanical performance, and chemical resistance of the coating will be presented. The performance of the coating shows the high value and potential application to marine vessels.