Environmentally Compliant, No VOC Aircraft Coating

Foster-Miller proposes to develop a new class of aircraft coating that meets/exceeds the performance of currently used, solvent-based polyurethane coatings while being environmentally-compliance and more economical. Our technical approach combines three enabling technologies to produce an innovative, one-art, no VOC coating system that is ideal for military and commercial aircraft, automobiles, ships and industrial applications. These key technologies include polyurethanes, air-drying coatings and engineered-release gels. When applied to Air Force aircraft as a low-viscosity, one-art spray-coating, our proposed environmentally-compliant coating (ECC) will release no VOCs and will air-dry at RT, forming a tough and tenacious cured coating. This feature will protect the coating crew and the atmosphere from toxic and hazardous vapors. The one part system will require no metering or mixing prior to application, a desirable feature for eliminating problems associated with the application of improperly formulated coatings. The Foster-Miller ECC will serve as the basis for establishing a new, stricter set of military coating standards that ensure greater safety and performance. In Phase I, we will develop the ECC formulation, produce coated test panels and analyze test panels for key performance properties. Our program team includes experts in polyurethane, 100 percent reactive coating systems and engineered-release gels.