Mark Scott, marketing manager at Peerless, explains how hard coatings can improve sustainability in the industry.
As the plastic industry, along with all industries, focusses on improvements to sustainability it is worth noting the fact that a solution to improving the sustainability of plastic products has been available for many years yet remains underutilised.
Imagine a specially formulated treatment that provides abrasion resistances to protect the surface of plastic products from scuffs and scratches caused by general, everyday wear and tear, a treatment that provides chemical resistance to plastic surfaces that otherwise could be easily damaged by solvents and chemicals they are exposed to during use. A treatment that can offer additional surface properties such as UV resistance, anti-fog, anti-static, anti-glare, anti-microbial and anti-graffiti properties, to name a few. Such surface treatments significantly extend the lifespan of plastic products, ensuring they are fit for purpose, made to last and potentially eliminating the need for replacement during the products life span, helping to lower carbon footprints in the process.
All these specially formulated properties, which extend the useful life of products can be granted to the surface with the application of hard coatings.
Hard coatings are applied to plastic substrates in a liquid form and cured using heat or UV energy. The level of abrasion and chemical resistance can vary depending on the hard coating’s formulation. Some coatings offer a lower abrasion resistance but in doing so offer an extended life under external weathering conditions.
What are hard coatings used for in the industry?
Hard coatings are particularly useful in medical applications such as:
Hard coated hygienic wall cladding and surface covers, incorporating specialist properties such as anti-microbial protection. The hard coating in these applications offers a robust surface to decorative wall coverings to meet the daily wear and tear of hospital corridors, operating theatres, kitchens, toilets/rest rooms, etc. Hard coatings can also be applied to protect the plastic parts used on patient beds and in areas that are subject to daily wear and tear saving on replacement costs.
Hard coated and Anti-Fog PPE providing a tough long-lasting solution for medical visors and googles, whilst guaranteeing clear vision without fogging up. This helps to ensure the wearer is comfortable and able to keep PPE on at all times keeping them and patients safe.
Anti-Microbial hard coatings applied to door furniture such as handles and push plates, offering hygienic surfaces for high traffic areas.
Operating Theatre lighting, with an abrasion and chemical resistant hard coating to allow for regular cleaning of the lighting lens, to ensure optimal light transmission for the life of the product.
How can hard coatings improve sustainability?
Advances in plastic production and ensuring materials are recycled in recent years, have, and will continue to make a difference, but less focus has been placed on ensuring materials last longer and therefore need to be replaced less often.
The use of hard coatings on plastic substrates in many other applications would reduce the need for replacement/recycling, ultimately reducing the carbon footprint and improving the sustainability of said product or project. Once a hard coated plastic product comes to the end of its useful life, it can still be recycled just the same as the uncoated product would have been, so it’s a win-win scenario.
As more industries start to utilise hard coatings on their plastic products, they begin to understand the many benefits offered. Not just superior surface performance and protection, but also improved sustainability and help to lower carbon footprints due to lasting significantly longer and ultimately reducing costs associated with replacements.