Mind Blowing Nanotechnology...Wowzers!

I just saw this video today, pretty freaking sweet. Especially if it is as durable as the website claims.



hydro-chart.jpg
 
Contact angle



[: the contact angle is the angle at which a liquid/vapour interface meets a solid surface].



The size, shape, and height of the water droplets are measured by their contact angle. Contact angle is figured by a straight line that starts at the base of the droplet and travels along its outer surface to the break-off point. The measurement between this line and the surface determines the contact angle.



The degree of (surface) wetting is determined by a force balance between adhesive and cohesive forces. If the liquid is very strongly attracted to the solid surface (for example water on a strongly hydrophilic solid) the droplet will completely spread out on the solid surface and the contact angle will be close to 0. °. Less strongly hydrophilic solids will have a contact angle up to 90. °. On many highly hydrophilic surfaces, water droplets will exhibit contact angles of 0° to 30°. If the solid surface is hydrophobic, the contact angle will be larger than 90. °A. On highly hydrophobic surfaces the surfaces have water contact angles as high as ~120. °



If the angle ° is less than 90 the liquid is said to wet the solid. If it is greater than 90 it is said to be non-wetting. A zero contact angle represents complete wetting. The instrument of choice to measure contact angles and dynamic contact angles is a Theta optical tensiometer.



The smaller the contact angle the tighter the water sphere (bead) conversely the larger the angle (°) becomes the sphere’s shape will change until the water sheets from a sloped surface.







Here endeth the first lesson ;)
 
Jon, as I have attempted to point out for years, "beading" is not a real way to know if there is "protection" provided.

Beading creates "small magnifiers" of heat and such to the paint surface.

My old way has been to ask "have you ever taken a magnifling glass and burnt ants"?

Sure, "beading" looks good, makes people feel that they have done the right thing, cause that's what their dad's, uncles, etc told them that they had "protection" for their paint.

40 years ago, that was correct.

Not so with modern polymer based sealants.

The "beading" that is first observed is, in most cases, due only to the hydrocarbon solvent system, which does create a sort term beading effect.

Sheeting is what one really wishes to observe, as that "pushes" any acids and other damaging contaminates away from the paint surface, does not create the "magnifing" action like mentioned.

Been trying to explain for years, that a modern clearcoat is a cousin to plastic and heat it up and it "expands", which allows minerals in the water, acid rain, etc, to enter and attach to the clear.

Take it from here, go on and explain the chemistry of what is actually going on, not the "hype" advertising that so many buy into.
 
Jon, excellent presentation and write up.

Please allow me to make a couple of "easy to understand" additions to this.

1. Amino-functional resins (a polymer based resin) are "anti-corrosive" in their nature. That means that while "eye ball" indications may appear to show that nothing is any longer providing protection from the minerals/acids that may be in the water on the paint's surface, due to their high "melt/evaporation" points, they will remain on the suface much longer than may be seen by the "eye".

2. I really like the way you bring out the "slickness" factor, and how that is often misunderstood in regards to "protection". Based upon your technical explaination, I would hope that most will read the technical information you present and consider it when using any "protective" paint product.

As one such as you, who has a more complete education regarding chemistry and such, I would hope that folks will take the time to digest all that you have posted.

That it will open their eyes and minds when they read all the "advertising/propaganda/words" that are used to "market" a product.

After all, we all should consider the "Jim Jones Kool-Aid", before we jump in and "buy the deal".

If a vehicle manufactuer does not endorse the use of a product, that means that their multi-million dollar testing labs have not found it to be worth while.
 
This is my custom auto door trim & wiper arm restoration package. This gives these parts a custom look without repainting or replacing anything and greatly extends their life span. This cannot be done with a foam pad, you have to use a wool pad. You can use the polish of your choice to do this, no compounds can be used in this process. You first take a micro towel and polish the parts by hand to help brake thru the first layer of the piece. Be very careful when you are buffing the door trim or you will burn it. If done correctly you will actually change the texture of these parts from flat and dry to smooth and shiny. Simply wax these parts like the rest of the vehicle and they will look as good as the day you polished them. I have done over 500 hundred of these packages all over the United States when managing paint overspray removal projects. Great way to give your customers something they can't get just anywhere.



 
I will put my hand up as another from a technical background disagreeing with the fascination with beading. Yes, it does look 'cool' but I absolutely agree that it concentrates any potential contaminants so you go from water which is fundamentally harmless to small droplets with very high concentrations of minerals or acids.



A really crucial question is what constitutes protection?. Is this UV protection, is it marr or abrasion resistance, is it protection from rain/water and associated incorporations? All are important but it is extremely rare for a product to actually achieve all of them. I suspect part of this is down to misunderstanding from the marketers. For instance, I have tested several products offering UV protection but have been able to demonstrate that they are UV stable (do not themselves break down under UV irradiation) but are not UV absorbers - so provide zero protection to the underlying surface.



A little note on the polymers resins. My experience (I use the raw materials in products) is that automotive products contain amino-functional silicones and silicone resins, not so much amino-functional resins. The amino-functional silicones tend to be curable, they polymerise to form a film with the interaction with moisture. The resins are typically non-curable because they are effectively pre-cured. With regards to the hydrophobicity, it is worth noting that the silicone manufacturers test and sell durability based on the hydrophobic character. This is not unique to one, rather it is all of those I have encountered. So from their perspective, because these are fundamentally highly hydrophobic materials, lack of hydrophobicity means that the product has been removed. This is clearly at odds with some of the above info but we should keep it in mind because said info is coming from the most experienced and scientific of those in the supply chain.



With regards to the Ultra Ever Dry - this has been thrown up dozens of times on the various automotive forums. There are numerous others making fantastic claims (e.g. neverwet). Unfortunately they are more or less inapplicable to automotive. In the Ultra Ever Dry, the product is translucent (not transparent) and has very limited mechanical abrasion. We must be extremely cautious with this sort of marketing video because they fail to make clear the limitations and the technologies are often too complex for a non-expert to make any reasonable conclusion with regards to transferability.
 
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