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Improving safety in mechanical engineering is still a topical issue. This article focuses on the introduction of a new thermochromic coating system, its development, and testing. The thermochromic coating systems are special paints that have the ability to change color and prevent burns. These systems can be used in environments exposed to temperature as an element of active safety.Research in the field of interactive coatings for safety purposes is carried out at the CTU in Prague as part of a national research project. In this project, a completely new coating system with thermochromic properties was designed. During the design phase, it was necessary to select a suitable primer inert to the thermochromic pigment. Due to the high sensitivity of the pigment, it was necessary to choose a suitable method of mixing. Several tests were performed to verify the application and functional properties of the thermochromic paints.The pigment Apex TH50 from the company Capricorn Specialty Chemicals was chosen for the development of the interactive coating system. This pigment changes the hue of the color in the temperature range of 47 - 52 °C. This temperature range was chosen due to the mechanism of burn. The tolerable contact temperature is around 44 °C. The maximum temperature at which changes on human skin are reversible is up to about 55 °C, but only with short-term contact. Therefore, if a worker notices a changing hue of the color in an exposed area, he will be visually alerted to unsafe contact or subsequent burn injury.
Keywords: Thermochromic, Pigment, Interactive, Heat-sensitive, Color, Surface Treatment, Safety© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.