from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
The evolution of paint coatings is rapid, multidirectional, and most interesting. Progress in the field of polymer coating technology stems from the three most important functions: the decorative function, the protective function, and the informative function. Paint systems account for approximately 50% of all coating systems. About 95% of steel structures are estimated to be safeguarded against corrosion with protective coatings, including as much as 90% with paint coatings. The service life of paint systems ranges from several months to several years. A special group of paint systems is paint coatings for military applications, mainly for camouflaging weapon systems and military equipment. Paint coatings are fundamentals of camouflage – they camouflage vehicles/objects in the optical range, both visible light (VIS) and the near-infrared (NIR) range. The main task of effective camouflage is to eliminate those features that may cause the object to be differentiated from its surroundings, i.e., those that make it possible to distinguish one's assets from the background, and these may include, for example, color, shape, size, gloss, and texture. The paper analyzes the functional operational properties of two-layer coatings for use in military technology. The properties were evaluated based on microstructure analysis and measurements of surface geometric structure, nanohardness, and adhesion. The tests were carried out for two-layer masking coating systems made in three variants: coating system (SP1), coating system modified with carbon nanotubes (SP2), coating system modified with glass microspheres (SP3). Paint coating systems were applied by pneumatic spraying to DC01 steel samples using SATA guns. Due to their operational properties, the developed coating systems can be used on weapons and military vehicles.
Keywords: Coating system, properties, surface geometric structure, adhesion, nanohardness, weapons and military vehicles© 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.