The European Coatings Conference "Smart Coatings" in Berlin
More than 90 international coatings experts met June 6-7 in Berlin for the European Coatings Conference "Smart Coatings," where they held in-depth discussions of the functional coating systems of the future. Hot topics in the 15 papers and in the discussion groups were the application of organically conductive coatings, switchable polymer systems, intelligent pigments, nanoparticle technologies and nano-structured hybrid systems. Further themes were self-regenerating ultra-hydrophobic films, coatings for storing information and paint-on liquid crystal displays.
This was the ninth time that Vincentz Verlag has hosted an event in the European Coatings Conference Series. Under the heading "Smart Coatings," this took as its theme those coatings whose functionalities are pushing the envelope where the properties of coatings and films are concerned. It presented an interesting cross-section of different properties and an insight into the current state of development work, from the underlying research right through to practical applications. A few selected papers are presented briefly below: