Glossary
A
Abrasion Resistance – Ability of a surface to resist scratches
ABS (plastic type) – A common opaque plastic
Adhesion – Joining two materials together chemically
Absorption – Absorption of light into material, either turns to heat, reflects, or is transmitted through / A coating can inhibit the absorption of water into material
Accelerated life-time test – Sped-up test for real-life conditions
Acrylic – Optically good plastic that is clear and can be coated
Additive – Additives are used to fine-tune the properties of the coating and are used in very small quantities. Examples include anti-foaming agents, preservatives, photo-initiators etc.
Analysis – Analysis is part of the scientific method and breaks down collected data through critical analysis to form a conclusion
Anti-bacterial – Surface that prevents bacteria from multiplying
Anti-fingerprint – Easily cleanable surface, oleophobic repels oils in fingerprints
Anti-glare – Matte surface or refractively tuned to not reflect light
Anti-graffiti – Oleophobic and hydrophobic properties repel oil-based paints, leaving them easily cleanable
Anti-microbial properties – Making the surface a poor growth surface, kill the microbes chemically
Anti-reflective coating – Refractively tuned to not reflect light, and light guidance for better clarity
Anti-viral – Surface that kills viruses
Atmospheric pressure plasma or AP plasma – Pre-treating the surface by cleaning and preparing the substrate with plasma before coating
B
Ball drop test – A standard weight ball is dropped on to a surface to determine from what height it leaves a mark. Used for glass and stiff plastics
Bar coating, Meyer rod, spiral bar – Sheet-to-sheet or roll-to-roll processing, where the thickness of the coat can be adjusted with rods or bars
Big Batch – Optitune’s big reactor, can make 250 litres of product
Boiling water test – Submerging the coated surface into boiling water, and testing how properties are preserved
C
Cationic photoinitiation – Cationic photoinitiation occurs under the influence of a strong Lewis acid catalyst by forming cationic (positively charged) reactive groups and help to grow polymer chains through the sequential addition of monomer units.
Chemical resistance, chemical stability – Submerging or wiping the coated surface with chemical, and testing how well properties are preserved (acids, bases, solvents)
Curing – UV and heat curing, affixes the coat into the substrate and evaporates solvents. Crosslinks the polymers, fuses and tightens the polymers together
Curtain coating – Curtain coating is a coating technique where the liquid coating forms a curtain which falls onto the moving substrate. Curtain coating allows for fast coating speeds, thin coating layers, improved uniformity, contour matching and for multi-layer coating
Corrosion resistance – Surface’s resistance to acids, bases, sweat, sea water, salt mist etc.
Crosshatch test – Adhesion test, where a coated surface is scored in a crosshatch-pattern with a knife and then a tape or other adhesive is placed on top of the coat and removed to see how well the coating is affixed to the surface
CSCL (chemical substance control law) – CSCL prevent environmental pollution caused by chemical substances that pose a risk of impairing human health and interfere with the inhabitation and growth of flora and fauna.
CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) – CVD is a well-established technique for deposition of a wide variety of films with different compositions and thicknesses down to a single layer of atoms.
D
Density – Density is the ratio between mass and volume or mass per unit volume
Dielectric Coating – A Dielectric Coating is a thin-film coatings made of transparent dielectric materials that does not conduct electricity.
Dip coating – Substrate is dipped into coating liquid, suitable for planar objects
DRIFT (Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopy) – DRIFT is an infrared sampling method that uses extensively in the visible and ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum to evaluate non-transparent, highly absorbing materials (polymer fibers and films) to detect subtle changes on rough surfaces, designed to minimize reflection losses
Dynamic contact angle – Dynamic contact angle is an advancing or receding contact angle which is measured during the movement of the liquid droplet across the solid surface. When a droplet is either spreading or receding on the surface, the contact angle can change.
Dyne pen – Dyne pens are used to test the surface energy of a material, or how well the surface wets
E
Easy-to-Clean (E2C) – Oleophobic, hydrophobic, easy to wipe without solvents
Elasticity – Property of a material to return back to its original form after outside force has been applied
Environmental stability (Weathering test) – Testing how the coating lasts in outside conditions. Accelerated, or cyclical tests with changing conditions
Epoxy – A mixture of a reactive polymer and a reactant that together after curing form a hard resin
F
Fingerprint – Oil-based stain from your fingers, problem with touch screens and other shiny surfaces
Flexibility – Bendability of a surface without breaking and losing properties
Flow coating – Flow coating is continuous stream or flow of coating material applied onto the substrate, and excess material is gathered and recirculated back to coating system.
Foldability (in-fold, out-fold) – How well a material can be folded, and in what direction
Formability – How well a material can be shaped after coating
Formulation – Optitune’s root polymer, solvents, additives, and their proportions
Free radical photoinitiation – Free radical photoinitiators are compounds that produce radicals when exposed to UV light. These then react with monomers and / or oligomers to initiate polymer chain growth
Friction measurement – Friction measurement involves either the direct measurement of forces that resist relative motion between two or more bodies of matter or the indirect measurement of the effects of those forces, such as braking torque or the current draw to a motor that moves the surface of one body against another
G
GC (gas chromatography) – GC is used to analyse volatile substances in the gas phase
Gloss meter – A glossmeter (also gloss meter) is an instrument which is used to measure specular reflection gloss of a surface. Gloss is determined by projecting a beam of light at a fixed intensity and angle onto a surface and measuring the amount of reflected light at an equal but opposite angle
GPC (gel permeation chromatography) – GPC is a technique in which a component molecular weight can be measured.
Gravure coating, reverse gravure coating – Reverse gravure (RG) coating is an alternate film deposition method for potential large-scale roll-to-roll production of coating on plastic, organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs).
H
Hard coat – Hard Coat (HC) made with hybrid organic-inorganic polysiloxane with highly transparent and scratch resistant properties
Hardness test – Hardness test (Pencil hardness, PEHA) is a type of evaluation method that is performed to determine the hardness of a material, typically coating materials. To perform a pencil hardness test, graphite pencils of varying hardness are moved across a coating’s surface and any scratching on the surface of coating is checked.
Haze – Haze is light that has been reflected by small surface structures adjacent to the main specular component of reflected light, thus obscuring the clarity and brilliance of a surface.
High refractive index material/coating – A high-refractive-index polymer (HRIP) is a polymer that has a refractive index greater than 1.50
Hydrophilic – Attracts water
Hydrophobic – Repels water
Hydrolysis – The chemical breakdown of a compound due to reaction with water
I
Infrared (IR) – Electromagnetic radiation in the 700-1 000 000 nm range. Infrared is invisible to the naked eye, but can be felt as heat
Initiator (photo initiator) – An initiator or photoinitiator is a molecule that creates reactive species (free radicals, cations or anions) when exposed to radiation (UV or visible)
Invisible fingerprint – Invisible fingerprint (“IFP”) coatings are generally oleophilic coatings that cause oils to be invisible, or nearly invisible, by causing the oils, e.g., from fingerprints, to spread along the screen surface
K
K-reach (Korean registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restriction of chemicals)
L
Low reflectance – Low refractive index is low-density medium that bends light very little towards the normal line.
Low refractive index material/coating – A low-refractive-index polymer (LRIP) is a polymer that has a refractive index less than 1.30
M
Macromolecules – Macromolecule is a large molecule that composed of thousands of small molecules via covalent bonds
Meyer rod (bar coating, spiral bar) – Meyer rod is stainless steel rod tightly wrapped with stainless steel wire which is used for bar coating
Moisture analysis – Moisture analysis covers a variety of methods for measuring the moisture content in solids, liquids, or gases.
Molecular weight – Mass of a molecule relative to carbon 12 isotope
Monomer – Molecule that forms polymer chains when reacting with other monomers
N
Nano coatings – Nanocoating is thin layer of thickness about <100 nm deposited on a substrate for improving some property or for imparting new functionality.
NITE-CHRIP (National Institute of Technology and Evaluation – chemical risk information platform)
NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy is an analytical chemistry technique used in quality control and research for determining the content and purity of a sample as well as its molecular structure
O
Oleophilic – Attracts oils
Oleophobic – Repels oils
Organic synthesis – Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis where complex organic molecules can be made from simple, commercially available petrochemical or natural precursors
P
Particle count, particle measurement – Particle size measurement is critical for a product behavior profile, for bioavailability, absorption rate and shelf life.
Patent application – Optitune protects its intellectual property by patenting its products
PC (Polycarbonate plastic type) – Hard and strike-resistant plastic, commonly used in smart phone screens
PET – Polyethylene phthalate, plastic commonly used in packaging
Plastic – Synthetic, mouldable materials made primarily from polymers
Pencil Hardness – Test to see how hard a coating is by testing against different hardness pens, ranging from 8B to 9H
Plasma, vacuum plasma, atmospheric pressure plasma – Oxygen, nitrogen plasma used to pre-treat the substrate material surface before coating
PMMA – Acrylic plastic
Polymer – Large molecules forming a chain. Main ingredient of plastics
Polysiloxanes – Polysiloxanes are polymers consisting of a silicon-oxygen backbone with organic groups, typically methyl groups, attached to the silicon atoms
R
Reach (registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restriction of chemicals)
Reflection, Reflectance – How well a material reflects light
Refractive index – A number that determines how much light bends, or refracts, when moving through a material
Roller coating – Roll-to-roll coating is the process of applying a coating to a flat substrate by passing it between two (or more) rollers. In this technique, the coating material is applied by one or more auxiliary rolls onto an application roll after the gap between the upper roller and the second roller has been appropriately adjusted.
Roll-to-roll, R2R – Coating a roll of material by unrolling it and running through a coating and curing process before rolling it again
Root polymer – Optitune proprietary polymer that is used as a base for all our products
Resistivity (dielectricity) – How well a material resists electric currents, important in touch screens. Dielectric materials insulate electric currents
S
Salt spray, salt mist test – Test to see how well the coating protects against corrosive salt water
Scratch Resistance – How well a surface is protected against scratches
Shelf-life – How long the ready product lasts before using it for coating
Slot-die coating – Slot-die coating is a coating technique for the application of solution, slurry, or extruded thin films onto typically flat substrates such as glass, metal, paper, fabric or plastic foils
Sol Gel Coatings – Sol-gel is a process where solid materials are produced from small molecules. The process handles the transformation of monomers into a colloidal solution (the Sol) that acts as the forerunner for an integrated network (the Gel) of either discrete particles or network polymers
Sol Gel technology – A technology which is an effective, versatile and low-cost synthesis technique used for the preparation of nano-scale materials of excellent surface and mechanical properties
Solid content – Solids content means the non-solvent, non-water ingredients in the coating, which consist of pigments and binders, that do not evaporate and have the potential to form a cured (dry) film. The solids content can be expressed in terms of volume percent or weight percent.
Stain removal – Using friction or solvents to remove stains, made easier with Optitune coatings
Steel wool – Used in abrasion tests, Optitune coatings have a numerical value before steel wool leaves a scratch
Stretchability, elongation – Ability of a material and coating to stretch without losing its properties
Surface Energy – Excess energy at the surface of a material, can be used to measure adhesion and wetting properties
Spectrophotometer – A spectrophotometer is an instrument that measures the amounts of photons (the intensity of light) absorbed after it passes through sample solution.
Spectrum – A continuous scale, ultraviolet and visible light are in the 10-700 nm range in the electromagnetic spectrum
Spin coating (spin-slot coating) – Spin coating is a method to apply a uniform film onto a solid surface by using centrifugal force and requires a liquid–vapor interface.
Spray coating – Coating the substrate by spraying it either by hand or with a machine
Substrate – Material under the coating, be it metal, glass, or plastic
Synthesis – In chemistry, chemical synthesis is the artificial execution of chemical reactions to obtain one or several products
T
Thermal curing – Using heat to affix the coating into the substrate material and to evaporate solvents
Thermal initiator (initiator) – Thermal initiators are compounds that generate radicals or cations upon exposure to heat
Thickness of coating (nm, micron) – How thin the coating is on top of the substrate. Optitune’s coating are under 100 nm
Transmission, transmittance – Light travelling through a medium such as glass or plastic
U
UV – Ultraviolet light, beyond the visible spectrum in the 10-400 nm range, can be harmful
UV curing – Affixing the coating into the substrate using an ultraviolet oven
UV resistant – How well the coating stops UV-light from transmitting through
V
Viscosity – How thick a liquid is, how well it flows. Affects how a coating is applied
Visual quality, visual inspection – Visual inspection of a coating material whether the coating contains any particles, defects, haziness and overall coating quality
W
Water Contact Angle (WCA) – Test used to determine the hydrophobic properties of a surface by measuring the angle between the surface and a drop of water
Wavelength – How the electromagnetic spectrum is measured, visible light is 400-700 nm
Weathering test – The main causes of weathering are sunlight (especially UV), high temperatures, and moisture in the form of rain, dew and high humidity. Therefore, weathering test is done in a weather chamber at certain temperature and humidity conditions.