Colour comes into play: coating materials with VESTOSINT® from Evonik gleam at Durban’s airport

Citation

(2011), "Colour comes into play: coating materials with VESTOSINT® from Evonik gleam at Durban’s airport", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 58 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2011.12858aab.005

Colour comes into play: coating materials with VESTOSINT® from Evonik gleam at Durban’s airport

Colour comes into play: coating materials with VESTOSINT^® from Evonik gleam at Durban’s airport

Article Type: Industrial news From: Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Volume 58, Issue 1

Soccer teams were not the only thing which drew a great deal of attention in Durban during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The excellent quality of a coil coating for the new King Shaka Airport clearly turned heads, as well. And that is thanks in no small part to a product from Evonik in Essen, Germany – a polyamide 12 fine powder, VESTOSINT^®.

The new international airport in Durban, one of the South Africa’s ten World Cup venues, was commissioned on May 1, 2010 – not long before the tournament began. Designed for 7.5 million passengers, it also boasts a jetway for the new Airbus A380. A total of 12,000 l of coil coating material in a modern and neutral shade of gray were used in constructing the airport’s façades and roofs made of steel. This coating material contains a unique additive: a polyamide 12 fine powder known as VESTOSINT^®, which ensures a highly elastic structure resistant to abrasion. The polyamides are capable not only of absorbing even those forces which impact a coating suddenly, but also protecting the coating against cracking. Impact modifiers fulfill the same role in many plastics, some of which would otherwise be brittle. Furthermore, VESTOSINT^® fine powder promotes excellent dirt repellency, which bears fruit particularly with regard to outdoor architectural use. The coating’s resistance to abrasion is enhanced because the polyamide particles – anchored in the coating by chemical bonds – cannot be dislodged by friction.

Figure 1 The façades and roofs of the new King Shaka International Airport in Durban are well protected against abrasion, cracking and dirt by coil coating with VESTOSINT^®

In stoving paints, polyamides bring about uniformly fine surface structures, which can be varied by means of the polyamide powder’s particle size distribution, as well as a mat surface gloss caused by the different refraction of coating resin and polyamide. The coatings contain no matting agents which could diminish weather resistance or elasticity. VESTOSINT^® fine powders on offer vary as regards particle size and particle size distribution. They can be used individually or in a mixture to achieve the desired structure (Figure 1).

More information is available from: www.evonik.com