Our permanent coating reduces fouling by 80%.
Our anti-fouling coating can be used in marine equipment, boat hulls, unmanned underwater vehicle hulls, and pipes to prevent microorganisms, macro-organisms, plants, barnacles and algae from attaching to a surface.
Accumulation of these organisms on a surface increases drag and weight which can damage or slow underwater equipment.
Anti-Fouling on Stainless Steel
Since yeast mimics the type of fouling that would be found in marine environments, we selected yeast as a foulant and performed experiments on static yeast adsorption.
We assessed biofouling by three different methods: agar plate method, UV-spectroscopy, and laser confocal microscope.
Figure 1 displays the amount of adsorbed yeast on the surfaces. The results show that yeast readily attaches to stainless steel. However, after the surface was modified using SurfTec’s coating, we found that yeast accumulation decreased by 80% percent over a 24-hour period.
Schematic of SurfTec’s anti-fouling coating.
Strong Surface Adhesion
The coating offers a thin light weight permanent coating that requires no replenishing and is designed to allow sufficient corrosion protection necessary to last numerous overhaul cycles.
Anti-Fouling on EPDM Rubber
EPDM rubber and SurfTec modified EPDM rubber were exposed to dyed yeast to examine biofouling of the surface. In this study it was found that the SurfTec modified EPDM rubber exhibited a 95% reduction in fouling. These exceptional results have not been observed in other permanent coatings.
Chemical Resistance
Our research is funded by
