Techsure December Newsletter

TECHSURGE December 2014 | Volume 2

INSIDE FEATURE ARTICLE

Omniphobic Coatings

TECHNICAL INSIGHTS

Anti-soiling Coating For Clean Efficient Solar Reflectors

INNOVATIVE HIGHLIGHTS The Design Wall 2014

ADVISORY COMMITTEE Dr. B.P. MALLIK Dr. V. MOHAN RAO Mr. RAJEEV KUMAR GOEL

STEERING COMMITTEE Mr. BHUSHAN PRADHAN Dr. SISIR KUMAR MANDAL Dr. SWAPAN KUMAR GHOSH Dr. RAJEEV KUMAR JAIN

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Ms. ELVINA ROSE Dr.(Ms.) ADITI DAMLE Dr. SUBRAHMANYA SHREEPATHI Dr. PRASHANT PANDYA Mr. GIRISH MIRCHANDANI Dr. RANDHIRSINH PARMAR Dr. SYED HASEEBUDDIN Mr. VENKATESH PAI Dr. SUMAN MITRA Ms. AKANKSHA AGARWAL Mr. V. AKILAN

KEY ADMIN SUPPORT Mr. ANAND KONDALKAR

About the cover page image

Photo by

Waterbeading Effect in Clear Woodfinish

Ms. Kalpana Balkrishnan

CONTENT

Message from the President

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Key Notes from Vice President

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Feature Article Omniphobic coatings Repel practically every liquid‌

Happenings in IBU Techcon 2014

Did You Know?

Storage tanks

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Technical Insights Anti-soiling coating keeps Solar reflectors clean and efficient

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Innovative Highlights Bathroom waterproofing solutions Potable water tanklining solutions The Design Wall 2014

Quiz

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Key Events in Turbhe R&T centre, Turbhe

R&T gets a Facelift Nova club meeting at Turbhe R&T Technology Council Meeting People Turbhe Tuskers – Runner-up 2014 Football League

Publications 2014

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Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.

The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

- Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931)

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Message

from the

President

We continue to take significant strides in our journey

This resonates with our Technology Vision and guides

of attaining excellence in innovation. The number of

us in our pursuit of Direction 13-18 and beyond. I take

new technologies ,products being pursued by us is a

this opportunity to congratulate the team in Turbhe,

testimony to this .The new look of our R&T center

who have worked relentlessly with the Designer to

personifies that aptly and connotes, we are a team in

make this transformation possible in just four weeks!!

which designing polymers, products and solutions to customer needs is in our DNA. The burst of colors on

I am sure all of you join me taking Innovation at

the entry wall truly depicts the diversity of ideas, not

Asian paints to a new high and making the dream

just from within but also from an outside in perspective

of achieving our vision and direction possible.

which flows inside of our center and acts as a continuous source of inspiration to attain excellence in

With best wishes,

Technology.

Amit Syngle

This is captured very aptly below:

President (Sales ,Marketing &Technology)

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Key Notes fromVice

President

Dear Fellow Colleagues, Perhaps all of you have experienced the landmark events that happened recently in Turbhe R&T since the release of 1st issue of Tech Surge in September. In this issue I wish to share with you some insight about these memorable events for which we all in Technology Function should take pride and feel delighted.

Sometime back I came across a new term from a news article called “Corporate Plasticity” which was coined

by Laurent Chevreux – author and a partner in A T Kearney strategic consultancy group.

From his extensive research on top corporates the author came to the conclusion that the two critical dimensions of success namely strategy and functional excellence are not enough to survive in the long run. Corporates must focus on the third dimension

of “Corporate Plasticity” which demonstrates the ability of individuals, departments and business units to work together, appreciate each others views in pursuit of common goals. In TF we are very much familiar with the term plasticity which relates to viscoelasticity of polymers.

Cultivation of corporate plasticity requires individuals with plastic or viscoelastic mindset which allows free flowing of ideas from both inside and outside the organization as opposed to typical mindset filled with crystallographic rigidity. The trigger for innovation germinates from this plastic state of mind in which our brain is open to receive, explore and work around new ideas. The formation of “Technology Council” is a step towards bringing “outside in perspective” from acclaimed scientists and professionals outside the organization

with a view to catalyze our transformational journey.

We have constituted this seven member “Technology Council” team for the first time in the history of Asian Paints and in that sense it is a landmark event for the company. The council is represented by four outside experts namely Prof Jamil Baghdachi - Professor & Director of Coatings Research Group of Eastern Michigan University, USA, Dr. S Sivaram – CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow and former Director of National Chemical laboratory ,Pune, Dr. Pushpito Ghosh – Former Director of Central salt and marine Research institute (CSIR Institute) , Bhavnagar and Dr. Steve Mishra – Former Technical Director of RPM International and an expert in the area of waterproofing, sealants and construction chemicals. The three inside members are our

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MD&CEO, President –Technology and Vice President –Technology.

The council will meet twice in a year for two full days to deliberate on technology plans and vision, identify new growth areas, and share R&D best practices & processes to drive innovation agenda and many others. The first meeting took place in Vakola and in Turbhe on 17th and 18th Nov respectively. Some of our scientists presented their work to council members and number of posters were displayed highlighting the technical programs being carried out in R&T. During the open house session the members appreciated our facilities and opined that the quality of our work and technical programs are at par with global coating companies.

Members also gave valuable feedback how to improve our way of working, balance intellect and practicalities, align short and long term research programs to business goals.

It was also suggested that we should focus on filing patents to protect our intellectual property,

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recruit specialists from multiple disciplines to bring diversity in thinking, and deploy our energy and resources in building one or two distinctive competency pillars such as microencapsulation, surface science etc. where we wish to be known around the world. Going forward we will work around these suggestions to refine our future operational plans.

The other important event that took place during 10th to 12th November was the hosting of Nova club technical coordination committee (TCC) meeting. The first and second day of TCC 2014 was organized at Hotel Renaissance –Powai and Turbhe R&T center respectively. Technical chiefs and representatives from nine member countries attended this meeting. During the second day members were first given a brief overview and video presentation on R&T followed by a tour around our R&D facilities and infrastructure. All members were overwhelmed by seeing our impressive facilities and expressed great deal of

commendation on management’s support & commitment towards creating such world class R&T center. Post visit the members deliberated on number of areas such as new product launches, new RM introduction, review of progress on joint projects, update on regulations and finally on R&T benchmarking .

The third important event was of course the eye catching exterior look of Turbhe R&T building which is elaborated well in the message from our President. The splashes of bright colors, choice of hues, and depiction of DNA in the murals that epitomize the flow of energy, inspiration, collaboration and creative spirit among our people, all of which are essential to propel our innovation journey ahead.

I am sure we will see many such exciting events as we move forward and cross one milestone to next one through the path of our transformational journey.

Dr. B.P. Mallik Vice President Technology

Omniphobic Coatings

Repel Practically Every Liquid…

Girish Mirchandani

Feature Article

Introduction Nature has inspired scientists to create hydrophobic and hydrophilic paint surfaces.

However, there are very few surfaces in nature that can repel oils. Thanks to omniphobic coatings (omni-all; phobic -repellent) made by scientists; all the liquids like coffee, tea, alcohols, oils, custard, sauces, inks, shampoo, petrol, acids and alkalis can bounce of a paint surface. These coatings have not only attracted scientists but also consumers because of their unique performance.

The transition from the laboratory to the marketplace has become possible due to their wonderful applications such as coatings with stain repellency, automotive coatings that repel dirt, grime and engine oils, clothes that do not need cleaning, antifouling coatings, drag reducing coatings and icephobic coatings.

Omniphobic coatings are made with low surface energy materials that have specialized morphologies including techniques where the coating consist of up to 95% air.

Omniphobicity The Concept Inspired by Nature Nature has demonstrated several surfaces which repel water such as bird feathers, leaves, grass, butterfly and insect wings (Figure 1). These natural surfaces have micro and nanosized bumps which reduce the contact area of water with the surfaces. Further aliphatic and cyclic hydrocarbons, waxes, etc. are present on the surface which further enhances

the hydrophobicity.These waxes are crystalline and occur over a size range of 0.2 to 100 microns [1]. These surfaces help the plants to remain clean and prevent antimicrobial growth. The unique discovery of surface morphology and hydrophobicity tempted the coatings industry to adopt self-cleaning coatings and drag reducing coatings for saving energy in ships.

Fig 1: Natural Hydrophobic surfaces ( dragonfly, blade of grass, Duck’s wings butterfly wing, bird’s feather

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Over millions of years, plant surfaces have evolved to adapt to different environments with a huge structural variety leading to development of multifunctional protective interfaces. As shown in Figure 2, the plant cuticle (upper protecting film) provides structural

and chemical modifications for surface wetting. The sculptures of the cells, fine structure of the surfaces, such as folding of the cuticle, or presence of epicuticular (superimposed) waxes influences surface wetting as shown in Figure 3 [1].

Fig 2: Schematic cross section of plant epidermal cells (1)

Fig 3: SEM image of epicuticular wax (left) SEM image of subcuticular insertions and folding (right) (1)

As shown in Figure 4, hydrophilic surfaces are also found in nature as well as surfaces that have a combination of hydrophobic and hydrophilic zones such as the desert beetle [1, 2]. The hydrophilicity of a surface is a result of the absence of waxes on either smooth or structured porous, sponge like surfaces as well as water absorbing hair like structures as shown in Figure 5 [1]. The biological advantage of these surfaces includes water and nutrient absorption. As far as coatings industry is concerned, superhydrophilicity is advantageous for uniform cleaning of surfaces and prevention of fog on glasses, windows and mirrors.

desert beetle (2)

Fig 4: Natural hydrophilic plant surfaces (left and centre); natural hydrophilic- hydrophobic surface (1)

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The Namib Desert beetle condenses atmospheric moisture on its patterned hydrophobic and hydrophilic zones. The hydrophilic peaks on its bumpy wings help to attract water to the surface which gets deposited in the hydrophobic valleys and roll off into the beetle’s mouth. This helps the beetle to survive in the harsh desert climate [2]. The beetle collects water as much as 40% of its body weight.

The phenomena of water condensation and collection by the desert beetle has led to intense research on coatings which can condense and harvest water from atmospheric moisture.

surfaces include the Nepenthes pitcher plant, dolphin skin and fish scales (can repel oils under water).

The pitcher plant uses its slippery surface to entrap insects while for aquatic organisms, prevention of biofilm formation and drag

reduction are the advantages [3].

These surfaces have been challenging to design artificially compared to hydrophobic surfaces because of the large surface tension difference between water (72 mN/m) and oil (~30 mN/m).

Only a handful of natural surfaces exist which can repel oils. Known

Fig 6: Natural oil repellent surfaces: • Nepenthes Pitcher plant (top left) Fig 5: SEM image of different hydrophilic plant surfaces (1)

• trapping of insects on its slippery surface (A,B) • Shark skin (black & white)

The Trend In Patents Shows Increased Interest For This Technology...

Scientists in December 2007 have reported surfaces that are a step ahead of nature by creating highly oil repellent surfaces [4]. Several patents have been filed in the field. A search with the term “omniphobic” on WIPO brings up 115 results with the United States leading with 71 patents.

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Approaches to prepare omniphobic coatings Anish Tuteja working at MIT University in collaboration with the United States Air Force has prepared superomniphobic surfaces by using a blend of PMMA and fluorinated POSS (polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane). Fibers of these blends have been made using electrospinning which uses an electrical charge to make solid particles out of solution as shown in Figure 7 [4]. They have found a third parameter “re-entrant surface curvature” apart from surface energy and roughness influences the wetting with low surface tension liquids. Extending the electrospun fiber mat to a model surface they have fabricated micro-hoodoos (mushroom like structures) as shown in Figure 8 using a patterning and etching process on flat silicon wafers. Making the surface repellent to oils enhances the permanency of self cleaning surfaces. These surfaces can even repel decane (23.8 mN/m) and octane (21.6 mN/m).

Creating such superomniphobic surfaces is an extension of the natural phenomenon of

Fig 7: Superomniphobic surfaces created at MIT repel all Newtonian and Non-Newtonian liquids

Fig 8: Two types of model re-entrant geometries created at MIT (4)

water-repelling lotus leaves. A layer of air (upto 95%) is trapped beneath the liquid within a microscopic surface structure that makes water bead on the surface and slide off these materials rather than wetting it. The difference between a superhydrophobic surface and a superomniphobic one is the overhanging geometry of the features on the surface. An array of pillars or hairs will be superhydrophobic, but adding some kind of overhanging cap –

Fig 9: SLIPS (Slippery liquid infused porous surfaces)

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such as hemispherical heads like the top of a mushroom – creates extra capillary force acting away from the surface. The liquids coming into contact with the coating barely touch a solid surface, thereby reducing the intermolecular Van der Waals forces that normally draw two states of matter together. The researchers found only chlorofluorocarbons were able to wet the coating.

The team has demonstrated applications ranging from coatings that do not allow ice formation, antifouling coatings to internal coatings for cosmetics and ketchup bottles which eliminates wastage of materials as shown in Figure 10.

Fig 10: Ketchup bottle internally coated with SLIPS (The sauce is repelled from the bottle without leaving a drop inside

Minkoet.al.has prepared magnetic microtextures by electrodeposition of Ni micronails coated with perfluorodecanethiol which can switch from a superomniphobic to an omniphilic wetting state under an external magnetic field shown in Figure 11 .

Omniphobicity Enabled Applications in Coatings Decorative paints Solvent based omniphobic coatings are available from Ultratech International (a Florida based company). However, no current omniphobic waterbased paint exists. Superhydrophobic water repellent paints which are available include Elite watershield, Lotusan and Superperl. PPG has an exterior decorative paint with dirt shedding technology called Grand distinction which is hydrophobic.

Automotive coating Automotive Company Nissan is working with UltraTech International to test an omniphobic coating in Europe. The coating is superhydrophobic and oleophobic repelling water, oils, grime and dirt.

Fig 11: Omniphobic to omniphilic switching using magnetic field

Permaclean clothes The US army has implemented uniforms prepared with omniphobic textile fibers which do not need cleaning. The US army has worked in collaboration with MIT University and Luna Innovations for testing of these fabrics for 4 years. These fabrics provide a layer of protection against toxic chemicals, which could sink through uniforms to a soldier’s skin.

Fig 13: Oil and water repellent textiles used by the US army for soldiers uniforms

Fig 12: Nissan testing an omniphobic coating (right half coated)

Icephobic Coating on Aluminium Icephobic coatings A team of researchers from Harvard University using the SLIPS concept have demonstrated a way to keep any surface free of ice and frost. The technology prevents ice sheets from developing on surfaces and any ice that does form, slides off from the surface.

This has direct applications for a wide variety of metal surfaces such as those used in refrigeration systems, wind turbines, aircraft, marine vessels, and the construction industry.

Condensing coatings

and

harvesting

Inspired by the desert beetle shown in Figure 4, a prototype device has been made to collect drinking water by condensing atmospheric moisture making it useful in areas where there is water scarcity especially desert areas.

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Icephobic Coating on Aluminium

Fig 14: Anti ice coating using SLIPS (8)

Fig 15: Bottle which condenses and collects water from the atmosphere

Challenges The challenges involved in the field include a) The high cost of the raw materials used to prepare omniphobic coatings b) Mechanical durability of the coatings to maintain the property of oil repellency after abrasion c) Ease of application on large substrates d) Coating VOC as commercial products are currently solvent based

Path ahead Nature’s creations are all perfect with an excellent balance of desired performance and sustainability. The current trend of Bio-mimicking has opened up a new methodology of seeing the technology development in a nature’s way. Omniphobicity deals

with the substrates for making them oil and water repellent based on the need. Tremendous efforts are made by the scientists in coating field and several products are being commercialized based on this concept. The present efforts are to develop the

References 1) Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 2009, vol. 367 no. 1893, 1487-1509 2) Nano Lett., 2006, 6 (6), 1213–1217 3) Nature, 2011, 477, 443–447 4) PNAS, 2008, 105, 18200–18205 5) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 12916−12919 6) phys.org, April 2014, Nissan self-cleaning car prototype 7) armytimes.com, Oct 2014, Army tests super repellent uniform 8) paintsquare.com, June 2012, New Harvard Coating Gives Ice the SLIPS 9) treehugger.com, July 2012, Atmospheric water collector inspired by desert beetle

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coatings with sustained performance at the same time addressing the key challenges of this technology. The future interior and exterior coatings will find many more applications based on this concept.

Techcon 2014

Happenings in IBU

IBU Technology Conference, Techcon 2014, was organized on Sep 15 & 16, 2014 at the Technology Centre, Turbhe. Twenty participants from twelve International Business units participated in this year’s conference.

The contents included discussion on new product launches, presentations both internal and invited under the “learning and sharing” session and an exclusive session on “case studies and problem solving”. The highlight was an elaborate poster and product display of innovative products in areas of architectural and industrial finishes.

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1: Lamp Lightning by Mr. Jalaj Dani 2: Core Management Team

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3: Display of New products launch 4: Birthday celebration of Mohammad Thouhidul Kabir and Purushottam Shrestha

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5: Wood Coating stall 6: Exhibitions of Technical poster and products

The conference ended with an Open house session with the Technology and IBU Leadership Team followed by inspirational speech by Mr. Jalaj Dani on IBU growth plans and directions for 13-18.

Trophies were awarded for two best product development efforts from Jamaica & Bahrain & one trophy for Agility given to Nepal Unit for fastest implementation of Waterproofing and Melamyne finishes.

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Standing row (L to R) Tejesh Maluste, Yogesh Thakur, Tarun Datta, B. Kosala Daminda Vitharana, Omnath Sinha, Hari Toraskar, Moatz Mohammed Hamed, Mohammad Thouhidul Kabir, Purushottam Shrestha, V Chandramouly, Dr. Syed Haseebuddin, Dhirender Jaiswal, N.P.A. Ananda Abhayarathne, G Shukla, Kiran Vasant, David Battersby, Mohammad Muradul Islam, Premkumar Seenichamy, V Akilan, Dr. Swapan Ghosh, Dr. Randhir Parmar, Sharad Mali, Palakdhari Singh Pankaj, K.M. Suresh, Amit Mathure.

Sitting Row (L to R) Samidha Sanap, Venkatesh Pai, Anjan Sircar, Ranjan De, Anil GR, Rajeev Jain, Dr. Mohan Rao, Rajeev Goel, I K Jaiswal, Jalaj Dani, Amit Syngle, Dr. B P Mallik, Tom Thomas, Ramakant Choudhari, Dr. Sisir Mandal, Debbie Ann Barrow, Jacqui Warren Wilson, Gladys Miller, Sachin Naik, Bhushan Pradhan.

Power of combinations

Did You Know?

There are

43,252,003,274,489,856,000

different colour combinations possible on a Rubik’s Cube

Colour Illusions • Actually the wings of butterflies are transparent.

• A protein named chitin forms the exoskeleton of many insects.

• The same protein makes several layers to form its wings.

• These thin layers are transparent and light can pass through them but they are full of thousands of small scales. These scales contain the pigment, melanin’ and the black and brown colour of butterfly wings is usually because of this pigment.

• Different colors of light are also reflected by these scales which make their wings more colourful and attractive. With the passage of time these scales fall and the actual transparent layers of chitin can be seen.

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New generation coatings that enable Solar Energy Harvesting Prashant Pandya, Elvina Rose

Anti-soiling coating keeps solar reflectors clean and efficient Global energy needs are increasing day by day but not the resources. In order to meet the energy demands, countries are taking steps and measures to meet the energy demand by utilizing renewable or non-depletable resources.

For example, UK has set up a target of producing 15% of its total energy through renewable resources by 2020. Countries all over the world are farming solar parks to convert sunlight into electricity. Solar farms or solar parks are the large-scale application of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) installations used to generate electricity. They often cover large areas of land (between 1 and

100 acres) and therefore they are usually developed in rural locations. Approximately 25 acres of land is required for every 5 megawatts (MW) of installation, enough to power 1,515 homes.

Soil reduces efficiency of solar power reflectors and photovoltaic up to 50% in 14 days. Manual cleaning and brushing is labor intensive and raises operating and maintenance (O&M) costs.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have taken it very seriously.

They are developing a low-cost, transparent, anti-soiling (or self-cleaning) coating for solar reflectors to optimize energy efficiency while lowering O&M costs. This is possible through a superhydrobphobic coating technology that effectively repels

Technical Insights water, viscous liquids, and most solid particles. These coatings are deposited by conventional painting and spraying methods using a mixture of organics and particles can be deployed in real time.

The inventors experimented with a variety of Clean Air Act–compliant organics and silica particles of different sizes.

They arrived at a particular formulation combining organic compounds with silica particles, which are dispersed in two sizes to enhance area coverage of particles within the coating. The anti-soiling coating exhibited excellent superhydrophobic properties, losing less than 0.3% of transparency over the entire solar radiation wavelength range. The coating exhibited no degradation in superhydrophobic or optical transmission properties. Also, when glass slides with the anti-soiling coating were exposed to sand and dust in a custom-made wind tunnel, the particles did not adhere to the coated surface of the slides—showing great potential for its use in harsh environmental conditions.

Source http://www.newswise.com/articles/letting-inthe-light; http://www.solar-trade.org.uk/ solarFarms.cfm

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Water based paints for generating electricity from sunlight Solar parks that capture sunlight and convert it into electricity are on the rise as briefed in the previous article. However, this has not seen great success due to many reason. Solar panels are difficult to install and handle and one would look for a simple and easy to use solution for this problem. Recently, researchers at University of Newcastle came up with a concept of ‘solar paint’ that uses and environmentally friendly solar cell technology. According to the inventors, the solar paint invention is the culmination of more than a decade of research and development. Their vision is to develop the new technology needed to provide low cost solar energy at the disposal of every household and every business in the world. Organic solar cells offer the tantalizing prospect of generating electricity from paint coatings or flexible plastic sheets that can be applied at extremely low cost to a vast array of building, vehicle and appliance surfaces.

The invention involves the development of a completely printable organic solar cell based on semiconducting polymer nanoparticles dispersed in water.

Essentially these tiny particles in suspension are a water-based paint, which can be printed or coated over large areas. Light shining on an organic solar cell produces positive and negative charges that can only be separated

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Inventors giving a miniature demonstration of their concept of water based solar paint

at interfaces between the polymer components in the cell. In an organic solar cell, the positive and negative charges can only travel a very short distance (around 10 nanometers or a millionth of a centimeter) before they recombine to give off light or heat, which is not very useful! So, in order obtain useful energy from an organic solar cell, these light-generated charges must be separated and collected within a few nanometers.

Fortunately, this separation readily occurs at interfaces, or junctions, to produce two separated positive and negative charges, which then travel to the electrodes (or contacts) and then out of the solar cell to produce an electrical current. The most efficient devices consist of a mixture (or blend) of a p-type semi-conducting polymer, which readily accepts and transfers positive charges, and a n-type material that readily accepts and

transfers negative charges. By creating tiny nanoparticles, they have both controlled the maximum distances that the charges have to travel before coming to an interface and allowed the coatings to be made out of water – a non-hazardous solvent!

This new type of solar cell made from plastics and polymers rather than glass like the panels you see on rooftops today. The cell consists of a very thin active layer, which is the layer that generates energy, and two electrical contacts on either side. Using printing, it is possible to accurately deposit onto plastic substrate a liquid film around one to two microns thick, which dries to give an active layer only a few tens of nanometers thick. After the top contact is in place they have produced a flexible plastic cell which is just under 1 % efficiency. Their goal is to improve

the efficiencies and investigate new printing methods for fabricating the devices.

The key advantage of these organic solar cells is that they can be printed at high speeds creating the vision of coating every roof and other suitable building surface with photovoltaic materials at extremely low cost. In the first instance these coatings will be

put onto plastic sheets that can be placed on the roof of a house.

However, in the longer term, it may be possible to directly paint a roof or building surface. Organic solar cells will use the same standard inverter technology used by conventional solar cells to connect the electricity grid network. The organic solar cells are coated from water onto recyclable plastic sheets such as PET and thus

are completely environmentally friendly. Ultimately, this invention will mean that every household will be able to generate its own electricity from a sustainable and renewable resource, using a paint coating on their own roof.

Source http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s 3008638.htm; http://www.newcastle.edu.au/research-andinnovation/centre/coe/research/organic-sol ar-cells

THERMOGRAVIMETRIC ANALYZER

A new advanced capability for paint characterization

Sonali Bivalkar

In the month of Aug 2014, Lathiesh and Amit Mathure’s team were busy in arranging infrastructure and support as a new member was going to get installed in Modern Instrument laboratory at Level – IV. I was very excited to learn, operate and harvest the tremendous benefits of this instrument. Yes, I am talking about our new member to the family of advanced characterization techniques, the Thermogravimetric Analyzer, most popularly known as TGA. Lathiesh and his Capex procurement team has worked hard to short-list a smart machine, placing purchase orders, clearing customs and making sure that the machine arrives at Turbhe safely. I vaguely remember studying this technique in my Master’s degree long ago but never had a

chance to operate it and interpret the results. Through this new equipment I am refreshing my theoretical knowledge and I thought of sharing some of my knowledge and experiences with all of you through this write-up.

TGA belongs to the family of thermal analysis techniques; others that are already there in Turbhe are differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analyser (DMA). Each one of them differ each other by

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their working principle and the results they produce but all of them have one thing in common, that is, change in temperature. TGA yields valuable information for research, development and quality control in numerous fields such as plastics, building materials, minerals, pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs. In TGA, small amount of liquid paint or paint film is used and the weight change is monitored as a function of temperature or time in a controlled environment. Material characterization is possible because of the mass loss or gain that happen during temperature or time sweep. It is needless to say that this technique is widely used to characterize polymeric materials, coatings, composites, some inorganics, fibres, etc.

Now, let me get into some finer

details of TGA. Materials when subjected to a temperature ramp either lose weight due to decomposition, loss of volatiles, chemical reaction, combustion, etc. or gain weight due to oxidation. It translates in to temperature ranges that can be attributed to thermal stability range or compositional information of complex mixture like paint. Researchers have used it further in combination with some mathematical simulations to predict the durability of polymers, decomposition kinetics of materials, thermal stability, etc.

In a typical TGA measurement, small quantity of sample (solid or liquid) is placed in a sample pan and placed in the sample holder connected to a microbalance.

A horizontal furnace is used to heat the sample, generally, at the rate of 10 °C/min. Technological advances enables very precise

Ms. Sushma running TGA of a paint sample

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weight measurement and minimizes the turbulence caused by thermal buoyancy. The sample chamber is generally purged with an inert gas like liquid nitrogen throughout the measurement to avoid any unwanted reactions.

However, one can use gases like oxygen or mixture of gases to study the behaviour of the material in this atmosphere. The TGA microbalance can determine the weight change of a 5 g sample up to 0.1 µg. Temperature can be varied from 50 – 1100 °C. The in-built operating software can record up to 50 million resolutions continuously without the need of changing temperature range. The software then displays a plot of weight change vs. temperature or time that is known as thermogram.

TGA 1: Thermogravimetric analyser by Mettler Toledo located in Modern Instruments Laboratory

Following is a typical thermogram of a liquid paint One can clearly see five step weight loss in the TGA thermogram wherein each step is attributed to major compositional information. For example, first step below 100 °C is mainly due to loss of water and the step between 350 – 450 °C corresponds to amount of polymer in the paint. When carbonate based extenders are present in the paint then it can be very easily quantified by TGA as they lose carbon dioxide in a specific temperature range.

In my learning phase, I have already studied moisture content in some of the raw materials and filler content in products from competition. Some of the raw materials used in paint have very low amount of moisture that affects the performance of the product which is very difficult to estimate. TGA because of very high sensitivity microbalance can estimate very low levels of moisture. Most of the pigments and extenders used in paint industry are inorganic minerals that have good thermal stability and therefore remain as residue even after 500 °C. Residual weight of the sample above this temperature is a good indicator of amount of

pigment – extenders used in a paint. Some of the literature that I read reveals that researchers are using TGA for durability prediction of polymeric materials by studying their thermal decomposition kinetics. What they do is run TGA of a polymeric sample in a set temperature range at different heating rates. The use of the different heating rates changes the time scale of the decomposition event. Faster the applied heating rate, the higher will be the decomposition temperature.

This approach establishes a link between time and temperature for the polymer decomposition and analysing this data through modelling indicates the durability

of that polymer. One can also estimate the thermal activation energy of the material.

At Turbhe, some research groups are working on organic-inorganic hybrid polymers, polymer composites, encapsulation of liquids, solids and phase change materials, etc. TGA is going to be a very useful technique for those groups in characterizing the loading of active ingredients, thermal stability of hybrids, etc. I am looking forward to establish this technique for various applications.

TGA, I am sure, will be of great use to all of us to materialize our theme – “Surging Ahead through Innovations”.

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Innovative Highlights

Asian Paints Smart Care Bathroom Water Proofing Solutions - Nikhil Tambe, Mahesh Kolambkar Now a days bathrooms are not just meant for freshening up, but are more visualized as personal spaces and with advent of designer tiles & glass mosaic, bathrooms stand as status symbol. However, frequent exposure to water and constant damp conditions not only spoil the overall decor of the bathroom but also gives rise to water leakages and protracted water movement across the building components which affect other areas inside

the home. Besides rain water & capillary rising grout water, leakage through bathrooms is a major cause of most common household dampness related issues. Most immediate impact is paint defects on the outside wall of bathroom such as peeling, blistering, efflorescence and fungal growth. Possible sources of water leakages include nhani trap, tile joints, improperly sealed sanitary joints, and concealed plumbing.

Bathroom waterproofing requires a very methodical approach. The Indian standard BIS IS 13182:1991 describes sources & reason of leakage, method of prevention from civil engineering aspect of designing wet areas and materials suitable for use.

Similarly, internationally accepted Australian standard AS 3470: 2004 describes the designing and materials aspect in details for waterproofing of bathrooms & other wet areas.

Bathroom water proofing solutions from Asian Paints 1. Construction of water tight slab While constructing the slab, use AP Smart Care Vitalia (liquid integral waterproofing compound complying with BIS IS 2645) in concrete to make it water proof.

AP’s Vitalia provides up to 75% reduction in water permeability.

2. Application of waterproof corners The corner joints between floor and wall are made water tight by using AP Smart Care Joints & Corners which is an EPDM rubber based waterproofing material.

The Corners are fixed by sand witching it between two wet on wet layers of two component AP Smart Care tile adhesive.

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3. Two component AP Smart Care Tile Adhesive The two component system consists of an acrylic emulsion and AP Smart Care Tile adhesive (fresh plaster).

The acrylic co polymer provides excellent workability/ pot life, bond strength enhancement and water resistance to the system.

4. Application of water proof woven sheet membrane This is a water proof three layered preformed sheet comprising of PE-PP-PE. It is fixed on the bathroom floor sand witched between two wet on wet coats of AP Smart Care 2K Tile adhesive.

5. Fixing of “pipe sleeves”: Pipe sleeves consists of natural rubber based waterproof membrane having perforation at the center so that it can be placed firmly around the water inlet/ outlet pipe at place where it emanates from the wall.

6. Fixing of tiles After curing of above system, tiles are fixed using AP Smart Care Tile Adhesive which is a cement based polymer modified product complying to Indian standard BIS IS 15477 for tile adhesives.

7. Filling tile joints There are two products for filling tile joints as below:

a. AP Smart Care Tile groutCement This is a single component RDP polymer modified cement based product with high water resistance, early strength development, faster setting. The product complies to international standard for tile grouts ie. ANSI 118.

performance grout which can be tinted using AP’s DTS system and provides outstanding resistance to water & household chemicals.

The product meets the requirements of international standards ANSI 118 as well as BS EN ISO 13007 standards for epoxy tile grout.

b. AP Smart Care Tile groutEpoxy This is a unique two component epoxy based high

8. Sealing joints Joints inside the bathroom mainly consist of sanitary ware joints and corner

joints between tiling work. These joints are filled with AP Smart Care Unyverseal which is neutral cure, elastic silicone sealant having movement accommodation factor of +/- 25%.

9.Preassembled Nhani trap Major source of water seepage is nhani trap. It is recommended to fix preassembled monolithic nhani trap.

AP Smart Care Bathroom Waterproofing Solutions-demo model by water proofing team

Products recommended

Smart Care Epoxy tile grout

Smart Care Cement tile grout

Smart Care Vitlia

Smart Care Unyverseal

Smart Care Tile adhesive

Dec14 | Vol 2

Potable Water - Lining Solutions Potable water is “Drinking water for human consumption” that gets stored in steel / concrete tanks and supplied through pipelines. These storage tanks and pipelines needs to be coated internally to mitigate corrosion without affecting the quality of water. Since the coating is in continuous contact with potable water it should not contaminate by any means that can harm human being. Internationally accepted standards for potable water coatings are BS 6920 and NSF 61.

- 2 component Solvent Free Epoxy - Certified by WKC, UK for meeting requirements of BS 6920:2000 for upto 30° C - Certified by Intertek, UK for meeting requirements of BS 6920:2000 for upto 60° C - Commercialized in India and International locations

Criteria

Acceptance Limit

Significance

Odour & flavour

2/3 panellists report for discernible odour & flavour, none of the panellists report flavour in 2nd dilutions.

Usual cause of concern attributed to leachants from the coating

Appearance

5 SU mg/l Pt or 0.5 FNU

Colour and Clarity (Turbidity/Haziness) from coating

Growth of aquatic microorganisms

Mean dissolved oxygen difference (MDOD) is 2.39 mg/l or less

Dissolved Oxygen level is not disturbed and capable of supporting an appreciable microbial growth in contact with potable water through the coating.

Cytotoxicity

Non-cytotoxic response

Morphology of mammalian cells to be unaffected.

Extraction of heavy metals

< 5 µg/L

Presence of heavy metals such as Hg, Pb Cr to be restricted within in the limits in the coating composition.

Site applications Successfully applied in India and Bahrain locations, the photos for which are below:

Internal Pipe Lining Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board

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Internal Pipe Lining Maroshi Ruparel Tunnel BMC

Internal Tank Lining – Electricity & water Authority, Bahrain

Key Certifications • WQC, UK - Conformance to WRAS / BS 6920:2000 requirements up to 30°C. • CFTRI, Mysore - Conformance to overall migration standards as per 21 CFR 175 – 300 of US FDA. • UV SUD PSB Pte. Ltd., Singapore - Conformance to BS 6920:2000 requirements at 60°C. • COT bv, The Netherlands - Conformance to AWWA C210-07 requirements (Internal & external coating for steel water pipelines.

• Intertek, UK - Conformance to WRAS / BS 6920:2000 requirements up to 60°C.

Through this development Asian Paints Researchers have bridged the vital product gap in the area of Potable Water Tank Lining

Certification

Dec14 | Vol 2

Th eD es ig nW al l2 01 4

Asian Paints - The Design Wall 2014 Winner

ULTIMA PROTEK SYSTEM has been chosen as THE BEST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT by an eminent panel of architects on 5th Sep 2014 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai in the Economic Times ACE- TECH DESIGN WALL 2014 Forum. The process and results were audited by Ernst & Young!

The ACETECH Design Wall is an initiative solely dedicated to stress on the significance of innovation in the construction industry. The goal of ACETECH Design Wall was to promote and support innovative installations, services and technologies that the industry has in bag.

ACETECH received more than 450 entries competing for recognition from the pioneers of construction, interior and design fraternity. It then conducted an

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internal screening, along with its official tabulators Ernst & Young, and shortlisted the top 60 brands. These Top 60 brands then showcased and displayed their innovative products, services and technologies before the esteemed jury panel comprising of more than 100 renowned Architects, Designers and Builders from across the world.

on film integrity, color retention, best Dirt PickUp Resistance, its ability to clean rust and soil stains, Excellent Anti-algal performance, Best scrub resistance, Crack bridging ability of upto 2 mm, best anti carbonation property, water proofing ability of positive 7 bar pressure etc. The other crowning glory os this product is in terms of GS-11 compliance.

Sireesh Rao (Marketing Manager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Exteriors & Smart Care) and Dr Syed Haseebuddin (Senior Manager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Exteriors, R&T Centre) delivered the presentation and WON this Award amongst 50 entries from across the construction industry!

The unveiling of the winners of The Design Wall 2014 was done on 6th Nov 2014 during the inauguration of the event at Bombay Exhibition Centre!

The Colour PRO central and Mumbai team along with Exteriors brand team also played a crucial role in making this happen!

The technical features of ULTIMA Protec which helped in winning this Award are 10 years durability

1. Technological advancement that reduced the cost of assessing oil and gas trapped inside impervious rocks is A. Cracking B. Fracking C. Drilling D. Controlled Explosions

Quiz

2. Wings of desert beetle has _______ and _________ zones on its wings that help the insect to attract trace amount of water, condense it and roll into its mouth.

A. Waxy and hairy zones B. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic zones C. Peak and valley zones D. Oleo phobic and lipophilic zones 3. New thermogravimetric analyzer commissioned at Modern Instrument laboratory can____________ A. Measure thermomechanical properties B. Identify the chemical nature of polymer of paint C. Quantify the amount of dispersant in D. Estimate the amount of carbonate type extenders liquid paint a in a liquid paint 4. Researchers at Harvard university used _________ as substrate and _________ as lubricant to create surfaces with 1nm roughness that repelled almost every liquid A. Teflon nanofibres and perfluorocarbon B. Nickel micronails and perfluorothiol C. Polymethyl methacrylate D. Hydrophilic polymer and wax nanostructures and silsesquioxane 5. The water based photovoltaic paints are applied onto polymer substrate using_________ technique and are of _________ thick.

A. Spin coating and one to two micron B. Robotic spray and one to two nm C. Printing and one to two micron D. Lithography and one to two nm 6. The new ‘Technology Council’ consists of A. Four eminent personalities from other Industries and academies C. Nine members

B. Five members D. Seven members

SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO technology.magazine@asianpaints.com BY 15TH JANUARY 2015.

WINNERS WITH ALL CORRECT ANSWERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN THE NEXT ISSUE.

ANSWERS TO TECH SURGE QUIZ (Previous Issue) 1. D) 2. B) 3. C) 4. C)

5. C) 6. A) 7. C) 8. B)

We appreciate Aishvarye Agarwal, Robin Varghese, Vaibhav Dhave, Milind Mahajan, Pravin Padave

for showing great enthusiasm and involvement in ‘TechSurge Issue 1 Quiz’

Dec 14 | Vol 2

Key Events In Turbhe R&T gets a Facelift

We, the Turbhe R&T folks, love colour, create colour, play with colour, make fun out of colour and finally earn by selling colour.

We see colour in our dream, draw inspiration from colors and get energized by the aura of colors.

We are overwhelmed by the immense possibilities of creating vast array of colors from the three primary colors. To symbolize the intricate association of colour with our day to day working and

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channelize constant flow of energy, warmth and vibrancy among people we have revamped the Turbhe building look with splashes of vibrant colors.

The Paint scheme adopted possibly sets new standards for exterior Décor in the years to come. It very effectively makes use of ‘Murals’ to connote a meaning or boldly express what we stand for in Technology.

The entire scheming has been conceptualized and aptly executed by Ms. Pavitra Rajaram, an accomplished designer and her team.

Our Apex Ultima Protek system has been used for the Base painting over which a large spectrum of new energetic colors generated in Apex Ultima has been sprayed. To protect it against the challenging industrial environment in Turbhe, an all Acrylic Clear coat has been

sprayed over the entire area.

The premises now have a well-trimmed lawn and two structures installed to convey it as a place which deals in science and technology. A 40ft X 5ft History wall pasted in the

auditorium captures our core values and our arduous journey of critical milestones attained since inception, besides reminding us of the challenging 13-18 vision set for ourselves. The interior painting of the auditorium makes use of paintable wallpaper which

provides a unique dĂŠcor element.

The entire phase of the project saw completion in less than 5 weeks with artists working round the clock to meet the set deadline for completion as 9th November.

Nova Club Technical Committee (TC) Meeting in Turbhe R&T

Participating countries: India, UK, Romania, Portugal, Argentina, Philippines, Israel, Germany and Greece

Nova club joint technical and purchasing meeting for the year 2014 was held in Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai during 10th to 12th November. As a part of the agenda the exclusive meeting among TC members was organized at Turbhe R&T

on 11th November. Technical chiefs and members from nine countries participated this meeting. Apart from technical discussion the members were a given an escorted tour inside our R&T facilities in two groups.

Delegates were awe inspired

by witnessing our astounding facilities, equipmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and lab infrastructure. All of them were highly impressed as well as inspired by the sheer size, lay out and get up of Turbhe R&T center.

Dec14 | Vol 2

Technology Council Team with Technology LeadershipTeam

Poster Exhibition by the Technology Team

Technology Council Meeting The first symbolic meeting of the newly constituted Technology Council was held in R&T at Turbhe on the 18th November. The meeting was attended by the highest level of APL Leadership team and company Directors. A poster session facilitated effective interactions between scientists and members of the Council.

Technology Council meeting celebration

People

In our pursuit to become a world-class R&T we continued our journey to further strengthen our project management capabilities. In this regard two workshops were conducted in the month of October, attended by Lead Researchers, Senior Managers and Chief Managers.

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A self-development workshop over 3 days in October was organized for our Researchers/Officers. This program was done first time for the R&T group and had been re-designed to meet the learning needs of this participant group.

This program includes a pre-work along with various personality tests, experiential learning activities and role plays. The highlight session was conducted by Mr NS Iyer on Living Life Powerfully. Post the program all participants were required to make a development plan in discussion with their superiors.

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After spending 29.5 years with the organization and his valuable contributions towards various products and especially in the area of Distempers, Mr Prashant Kane retired on 30th September, 2014. His retirement ceremony was conducted in style with his journey captured through pictures and testimonials from various colleagues. The R&T team wishes Prashant Kane all the best for his new Innings!

A one day Workshop on Design of Experiments ( DOE ) was organized on 21st Nov, 2014 for Researchers. This was conducted by Mr. Jitendra Agare, Lead Researcher II. DOE is a structured and organized way of conducting and analysing controlled tests to evaluate a the factors that are affecting a response variable. It is applied in the areas of Exploratory study, Optimization and Robustification.

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A One day Workshop on Essentials of Technical Paper writingwas conducted on 3rd and 4th Nov, 2014 in two batches. Faculty was Dr. Subrahmanya Shreepathi, Senior Manager.

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This was an interactive workshop for those who are inclined to write technical papers and publish them in peer review Journals.

Dec14 | Vol 2

Turbhe Tuskers Regaining The Glory!

Team Players Sangram Ghosh (C), Nitin Borase, Mhd. Askar Paravakkal, Sunil Khainar, Ajinkya Deshmukh, Harish Ajmera, Fateh Bahadur Lodh, Aishvarye Agarwal, Ameya Khavnekar, Pradeep Verma, Pravin Padave, Renjish Nair, Shrikant Dube, Mhd. Salman Sheikh, Vinayak Mhaskar (Gk)

It all started in 2010 when very first team from Turbhe played the Asian Paints Football League and won the trophy against all odds. But since then, everything started to fail. Turbhe suffered a humiliating loss in next year and memories of glory started to fade away. Following two years also ended with empty hands. But Turbhe Tuskers’ determination, self-belief and some new talent gave them the glory they achieved once and Turbhe ended the tournament as Runner-up in heroic manner. Playing as the defending champions, did not go very well for Turbhe in 2011.

Turbhe Tuskers were trashed 7-1 by giant Vakola, taking revenge from the defeat in 2010. 2012 ended in somewhat similar manner as Turbhe failed to challenge of Vakola again by 2-0

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and knocked out of tournament in league stage only. In 2013, Turbhe and Vakola ended in a penalty shootout after 1-1 tie, but Turbhe lost the shootout and could not qualify to finals.

2014 Football League started perfectly well for Turbhe Tuskers.

Turbhe defeated Sleek in their very first league match by 1-0.

Playing in their first match, Sunil Khairnar and Harish Ajmera helped Turbhe to get to the top of the points table. Harish’s furious attack and Sunil’s final touchdown gave Tuskers the perfect start they wanted. Second match with Vakola ended up in draw for Tuskers with scores of 0-0 in the end. With victory in one match and draw in other, Tuskers had already made it to this year’s league finals. Another finalist was

to be decided by the last league match between Sleek and Kalina teams. The team that scores a goal gets a position in finals, but if no one scores, Vakola had a chance to reach the finals due to their position in points table.

Final went rather one-sided.

Vakola scored a goal to climb the league trophy again, leaving Turbhe as Runner-up. But coming back from three years of underachieving performances, Tuskers have managed to get on their winning track and managed a Runner-up title. Going down in Ashes with consecutive losses for a longer period, Turbhe Tuskers have regained their glory with a trophy in end of 2014 League.

- Harshad Parnerkar (thesportscentre.blogspot.in)

PUBLICATIONS 2014

International Publications Electrochemical and Mechanical Studies on influence of Curing Agents on Performance of Epoxy Tank Linings Akshay Kumar Guin, BP Mallik and Subrahmanya Shreepathi Progress in Organic Coatings, August 2014 (doi:10.1016/j.porgcoat.2014.07.014)

Designed and printed by PIXELEX

Investigation of accelerated aging behaviour of High Performance Industrial Coatings by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis Suman Mitra, Atul Ahire, B.P. Mallik Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 77, Issue 11, November 2014, Pg. 1816â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1825