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This two-part article describes the application of nanotechnology in the coatings industry. Part 1 includes a general introduction and describes five types of nanocoatings. Part 2 (in the April 2014 issue of MP) will cover four additional coatings and discuss the future of nanocoating technology.
Nanotechnology is generally defined as the science of materials having physical dimensions on the scale of 1 to 100 nm. Nano comes from the Greek word meaning "dwarf." A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter(1 nm = 10 ' m),ajnd nanotechnology typically deals with particles and structures larger than 1 nm, but smaller than 100 nm. For perspective, consider that the width of a human hair is ~80,000 nm. A nm-size particle is twice the diameter of a gold atom and a very small fraction of the size of a living cell. A scale of 1 to 100 nm may seem like an arbitrary definition, as atoms themselves have dimensions on the order of 0.1 to 0.3 nm. As it is impossible to have a material particle smaller than an atom, the 1 to 100 nm range represents the lowest limit possible in terms of the physical size of a material.
The very small size of nanoparticles, coupled with their relatively great surface area, yields a very high surface area: weight/ mass ratio. It is this ratio that affects the material characteristics of the nanoparticles, changing them significantly from the larger-sized parent materials. It is these changes that are producing essentially new materials and technologies that are leading to creative improvements in all aspects of life. This article will provide a very brief summary of present and near-present advances in nanocoatings technology.
Mihail Roco has stated, "We have about 100 kinds of atoms, and right now 20 to 25 are frequently used. One should be able to use all of them in various arrangements at the nanoscale, exploiting their properties however we like."'
Nanomaterial research is spread across more than 30 countries. The most active is the United States, with roughly one-quarter of all publications addressing nanotechnology, followed by Japan, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia. These countries alone account for 70% of the world's scientific papers on nanotechnology.
According to NANO/ùfures,3 the world nanotechnology market reached $29...