The triggerable materials are integrated into coating formulations and applied onto textile and plastic substrates. After triggering, the debonding efficiency is evaluated.

  • The by NTUA especially designed triggers have been added to coating formulations, followed by a coating process. Research already showed that the efficiency is dependent on the type of additive and trigger.

  • The INDAR technology, where a triggerable primer layer is implemented based on blowing agents, can very efficiently remove coatings from plastic substrates. Also first promising results have been achieved on textile, but further development is needed to broaden the application scope. The Creasolv® process, enabling debonding via solvation, has proven to nicely remove the coating from textile substrates and specific plastics.

  • A complete recycling study has been conducted for ABS and ABS/PC. The influence of the recycling content, number of recycling cycles and remaining coating has been evaluated, as well as the influence of the triggering action itself on the properties of the bulk material. The study was done with ABS (automotive grade) and ABS/PC (electronic housing grade) and different tests (Melt flow index – MFI, tensile and impact strength) were performed. The results achieved provide with better knowledge of the recycling effect and can be used to decide the potential applications of the recycled plastic at the end-of-life.

The assessment of the especially designed triggers will be continued, especially on plastic substrates. Further, the assessment of microwaveable triggers is behind schedule due to corona, so these results are expected in the near future.

CTAG is now completing the assessment considering the synergistic effect that might occur when combining two of the above-mentioned situations, for example which are the loss of properties when a base polymer with remaining coating is treated with the deboning processes developed in DECOAT.

In addition, CTAG is going to evaluate the loss of properties of the coated components with the triggers/primers developed during the project when submitted to accelerated ageing in order to determine that the coating resistance itself is not affected.