Smart Coatings: The Next Big Opportunity in the Coatings Industry
In their continual search for high value-added opportunities, one of the most attractive prospects over the next decade will be so-called smart coatings -that is coatings that respond “intelligently” to various mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical stimuli.
Smart coatings have been a focus of the coatings R&D environment for several years, but are now quickly achieving functionalities sufficient to take them to the commercial level. At the same time, more smart coating ideas are starting to be investigated -n-tech is hearing that when large coatings firms brief the R&D community on areas that they might fund, smart coatings are mentioned increasingly often.