Monday, March 4, 2013

No. 696: Applying an aqueous paint to the resin parts of information technology equipment (March 4, 2013)

Technology:
Fujitsu developed an aqueous paint that can be applied to the resin parts of information technology equipment in alliance with its subsidiary Fujitsu Laboratories. Because moisture needs to be dried at a high temperature, an aqueous paint is not suitable for application to resin parts. The company improved the existing aqueous paint to make it dried at a relatively low temperature. By mixing a fine particle with atwo-layer structure of hard resin and soft resin with pigment, it successfully developedan aqueous resin that can be dried at 65 degrees centigrade. Fujitsu applied the new aqueous paint to the outer packaging of its servers for the first time, and plans to increase the number of products in the future.

As an oil paint generally needs to be diluted with such solvents as toluene and xylene, it generates volatile organic compound (VOC) that causes a photochemical smog. If an oil paint is replaced by the new aqueous paint, a large amount of solvent for dilution can be reduced. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Environment, paint is most responsible for VOC emission, accounting for about 40% of total VOC emission, in 2010. In the auto industry, lots of efforts are being made to replace oil paints with aqueous paints to reduce VOC emissions.

Comparison of components in 
solvent-based and water-based paints
 

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