Now where on earth did that expression come from anyway? Well it so happens that traditionally the “dog days” are those that fall between July 3 and August 11 – days that are often known for their extreme heat and humidity. Some say it signifies hot, sultry days “not fit for a dog” and others claim it is the weather in which dogs go mad.

Now where on earth did that expression come from anyway? Well it so happens that traditionally the “dog days” are those that fall between July 3 and August 11 – days that are often known for their extreme heat and humidity. Some say it signifies hot, sultry days “not fit for a dog” and others claim it is the weather in which dogs go mad.

Actually the period from July 3-August 11 is when the Dog Star, Sirius, (from the constellation Canis Major and Latin for “big dog”) rises in conjunction (or nearly so) with the Sun. As a result, some felt that the combination of the brightest luminary of the day (the Sun) and the brightest star of night (Sirius) was responsible for the extreme heat that is experienced during the middle of the summertime. During this time the star Sirius is at its brightest and can be seen rising alongside the Sun. The phrase actually dates back to the Egyptians who believed that the star gave off extra heat and humidity to augment the already formidable heat of the sun.

For most of us the dog days mean the winding down of summer, kids going back to school, one more summer holiday weekend and then marching into fall and a whirlwind down to the holidays.

But take this time to plan for some exciting events coming up in the fall – one of which is the Coatings Trends & Technologies Conference. Mark you calendars NOW for October 5-6 in Chicago. This event is the result of the combination of SYMCO (sponsored by the Chicago Society for Coatings Technology) and Coatings for Plastics (sponsored by PCI).

The focus is on coatings for wood, metal and plastics, so here is an opportunity to learn from leading industry personnel in various technology fields. A day and a half is planned, with a keynote speaker from Sherwin Williams to open the conference.

On the first day, sessions are split into two running parallel tracks, with the first part broken into architectural and industrial. Certainly low/zero VOC is a central theme in many papers – VOC-exempt solvents, low-VOC metal coatings, low-VOC waterborne primers and zero-VOC colorants, as well as solvent-free pigment preparations and zero-VOC dispersing agents.

Additives are also in the spotlight, with papers on flocculating and wetting agents, novel oxidative catalyst, rheological additives, nanogel aerogel additives, titanates and zirconates and renewable performance. Corrosion inhibitors and color measurement are also addressed, along with papers on green coatings, waterborne technology, waterborne for glass substrates, UV cure and UV-cure powder coatings, and automotive styling with liquid and powder coatings.

A session on plastic substrates is devoted to cold plasma treatment for improved adhesion, fluorooxidation and accelerated thermomolecular adhesion treatment. Several papers address accelerated exposure and new verification techniques for accelerated testing.

The entire program looks terrific, and it is a substance-packed event. Make plans to attend and check out the program at www.coatingsconference.com.

Use these “dog days” to plan for the future.