Solaflon by Polymade

Hi-Tech solutions with Solaflon

Solaflon
Solaflon liquid
Solaflon spray

SOLAFLON - amazing properties

....the worlds first liquid, film forming, fluorinated PTFE-Terpolymer, hydrophobic, olio phobic, inert, light controlling, acid resistant, solvent resistant, wear resistant, with special textiles - excellent sound absorbing, saving resources, high transparent, high gloss, brilliant colours embeddable, paper/textile printable, aluminization embeddable, flexible.... 

Solaflon is the only fluoropolymer in the world which is available as liquid, varnish or gel in a solvent based system.

I. Solaflon coatings

Solaflon is a PTFE - terpolymer with excellent features which is prepared by POLYMADE in such a way, that crystal clear and full transparent film coatings are possible. The developed technology allows coatings from some 500 nm up to some 100 µm, whereas the polymer shows a high flexibility even at bigger layers.

a. Optical properties

Very specific for Solaflon is the nearly 100% transparency from 200nm up to 2,500nm. That means that this polymer is not only UVC stable but shows also no optical change after strong radiation with high energy quanta like gamma radiation, where normal PTFE disintegrates.

Within the range of the solar radiation from 300nm up to 2,500nm Solaflon shows no absorption. It means that also the UVB and UVA is passing Solaflon.

But also in the middle and far infrared the absorption is limited and concentrated on a sharp line at 3.4µm with nearly no effect, a wider line at 7.3µm ( middle IR ) and an absorption band between 7.8 and 9.3µm. A further band between 15 and 19.5 shows a lower influence. In the range between 1.4 up to 35 µm the influence in the absorption remains very limited at coatings of about 10µm.

That all together allows products in a very big range of transmissions which are generally limited only by the substrate on which Solaflon is applied on.

b. Additives

Various additives are available which are changing the properties of Solaflon. 

• the LOI can be raised from 65 to about 95, but with the effect, that the transparency is changing to light opaque,

• bonding agents increasing the adhesion to glass and to polyester,

• the surface tension can be reduced to about 15mN/m what makes all goods coated water and oil repellent,

• a super gloss activator creates the absolute gloss of the surface and increases the surface tension.

c. Optical control

Due to the high transparency of Solaflon any coloring is possible. Each RAL colour can be added and the result is a brilliant, colorful and glossy material.

With the incorporation of Irodin particles the full range of metallic colours is available, but also the shine of colorful interference phenomena's can be realized.

Due to the optical neutrality of the Solaflon matrix also functional particles can be build it. Out of this reason a "heat stop" effect can be generated. Special pigments which are transparent in the visible, especially for green light and which are reflecting the total infrared allowing transparent structures with cold light. Because the IR is reflected and not absorbed, the membranes will also remain cold.

Besides gold shining pigments on the base of Irodin, which are creating a absolutely gold looking surface, with the same shine and appearance, also real metallic particles can be used. Especially silver shining aluminum particles creating not only a very clever silver imitation, but also as full coating a blackout material.

With the white pigment titanium trioxide the exact translucency can be adapted. Because the UV absorption of this pigment the passing light is UV free, but the material will be heated up in a sun radiation with high UV content, like near the tropics.

To avoid the heating up by UV, instead of Titanium dioxide as white pigment, aluminum oxide is preferably used with it's capacity as a wide band reflector. 

An important feature is the possibility to create a low emissivity at the surface of the membrane. That will be done by aluminizing the glass fabric by PVD ( physical vapor deposition ) and then sheltering the metallic aluminum coating with a thin layer of Solaflon (about 10µm). Due to the slight absorption of the far IR by Solaflon the effect of aluminum remains nearly the same, but it is secured against corrosion by the Solaflon coating. 

With such a low-e capability it is possible on the one hand to reflect the far IR at the aluminized surface and to keep the heat within the room, what means energy saving and on the other hand to avoid the emittance of a heated up membrane via the aluminized surface.

Such a unique material was realized by Polymade and will be the inner liner of the new Bangkok airport.

d. Active pigments

Besides the use of passive pigments for coloring and effects, also the incorporation of active light pigments is possible. The activation of the pigments can be done either by UVC or by UVA. Also electro-luminescence is possible, if high efficient pigments are available. In the moment there are some companies which are active in this field, but the light production is very low and due to the use of a non-fluoropolymer as coating material, the life span is limited to about 10,000 hours. It is a matter of fact, that all active pigments are extremely sensitive to humidity. Out of this reason the coating with Solaflon would be the solution.

The UVA excitation shows power wise nearly no limits. A UVA load of more than 1,000W/m² is possible. Also the conversion losses are lower due to the reduced distance between UVA (360nm ) and visible light (550nm). That makes it possible to generate up to 700W/m² light on the surface of a membrane. Because the excitation light will be generated in high pressure mercury lamps with a small plasma line, the UVA can be concentrated into a strong beam of radiation. 

With the generation of light within the surface of a membrane a flat lamp is created.

II. Solaflon Liquid

Thinnest film coatings are possible with the Solaflon Liquid. This unique material is available in bottles, cans and drums. For the immediate use also in spray cans. Solaflon Liquid is designed as the perfect water protection coating, ultra thin with a very low surface tension.

All materials coated with Solaflon Liquid are water and oil repellent.

Due to the film coating, Solaflon Liquid shows a very good permanence. Fabrics out of synthetic fibres and coated with Solaflon Liquid had been tested and showed after 10 times washing and 5 times dry cleaning nearly the same water repellence as before.

Some fields of employment of Solaflon Liquid

The fields of employment are nearly endless and permanent new applications are found. Starting with the protection of all kind of clothes, many other fields have been successfully tested. A first and in no way complete list of the various items which have been protected follows underneath:

• leather goods

• wind cheater

• sportswear

• sails

• ropes

• tarpaulins

• roofing tiles

• chippings

• uniforms

• caps and hats

• wood paneling

• paper and documents

• sand covers

• carpets

• tents 

• sun blinds

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