Easy-to-clean coatings are very popular nowadays to be applied on a number of substrates in various applications. The "easy-to-clean" functionality means that a surface can be cleaned more easily, but a cleaning step is still required. Depending on the "dirt" (graffiti, fingerprints, acids, environmental dirt, etc.) the coating has to satisfy different conditions, like being a complete sealant, or being water and/or oil repulsive. In addition the durability of the easy-to-clean functionality is an important extra requirement: to what extent permanence of the easy-to-clean effect is needed, depends on the application. Moreover, for some applications, extra conditions apply, e.g. food or medical approval of the coating. For all these conditions, coating solutions have to be found. A multitude of commercial easy-to-clean coatings and coating additives are already on the market and applicable to different situations. Of them, the wet-chemical coatings are very versatile to adapt to the specific needs of the customer. Wet chemical coatings comprise solutions with resins, reactive diluents, sol-gel networks, nanoparticles etc. as hybrid systems. In the Sirris Smart Coating Application Lab, a number of ready-to-use commercial and self-engineered coating formulations have already been tested and adapted to be suitable for different customer applications requiring easy-to-clean properties. In this work, three practical cases will be presented: a superhydrophobic coating as anti-mud layer on a racing bike, an easy-to-clean and acid resistant coating on natural stone and an easy-to-clean coating on a building sun-screen. The easy-to-clean properties will be shown (contact angle, dirt tests), next to their durability (abrasion resistance, chemical resistance). Focus is on polysiloxane, polysilazane and superhydrophobic coatings.
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