Advances in environmentally benign coatings and adhesives

There is an increased need to develop environmentally benign (no pollution or release of hazardous materials into the air, water or soil from a coating or adhesive either during their manufacture, use and disposal or recycle lifetimes), coatings and adhesives that have equivalent or superior properties to their conventional (non-environmentally benign) counterparts. This paper discusses some of the new concepts or technologies associated with environmentally benign barrier coatings for packaging, abrasion resistant coatings for plastic substrates, new developments in wood finishes, antifouling coatings and new chemistry associated with the design of advanced coating systems. This paper also discusses how Battelle is helping the US Air Force to eliminate hazardous waste associated with structural adhesive technology through the identification of equivalent adhesive systems reducing the number of adhesives used to repair current aircraft and missile equipment. This paper also discusses advances in the area of repulpable/recyclable pressure sensitive adhesives and silicone release coatings used in a variety of commercial applications.