Coatings
China is a major producer and consumer of coatings, but domestic coatings currently have common performance deficiencies, such as poor suspension stability, poor thixotropy, poor weather resistance, and poor scrub resistance, resulting in the need to import a large amount of high-quality coatings every year. Some coating manufacturers in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other places dared to innovate and successfully applied nano-silica in coatings. This nano-modified coating has overcome the shortcomings of previous products. After testing, all main performance indicators have been greatly improved except for the contrast ratio. For example, the scrub resistance of exterior wall coatings has been increased from more than 1,000 times to more than 10,000 times. The accelerated weathering aging and artificial radiation exposure aging time have been increased from 250 hours (chalking level 1, discoloration level 2) to 600 hours (no chalking, no discoloration of paint film, color difference 4.8). In addition, the bonding strength between the coating film and the wall has been greatly improved, the coating film hardness has been significantly increased, and the surface self-cleaning ability has also been improved.
Rubber
Rubber is an elastomer with excellent elasticity, but its overall performance is unsatisfactory. In the production of rubber products, carbon black is usually added to the rubber compound to improve strength, wear resistance and aging resistance. However, the addition of carbon black makes all products black and of low grade. The advent of nano-SiO₂ in China has laid a material foundation for the production of a new generation of rubber products with novel colors and excellent performance. After adding a small amount of nano-SiO₂ to ordinary rubber, the properties such as strength, wear resistance and aging resistance of the product reach or exceed high-grade rubber products, and the color can be kept unchanged for a long time. Nano-modified colored EPDM waterproof membranes have significantly improved wear resistance, tensile strength, bending resistance and aging resistance, with bright colors and excellent color retention. Research on colored tires has also made certain progress. For example, the bending resistance of tire sidewall rubber has been increased from 100,000 times to more than 500,000 times. It is expected that the colorization of domestic automobile and motorcycle tires will be realized in the near future.
Pigments (Dyes)
Although organic pigments (dyes) have bright colors and strong tinting strength, their light resistance, heat resistance, solvent resistance and migration resistance are generally inferior to inorganic pigments. Surface modification of organic pigments (dyes) by adding nano-SiO₂ not only greatly improves the aging resistance of pigments (dyes), but also improves the brightness, tone and saturation to a certain extent. The performance is comparable to imported high-end products, greatly broadening the grade and application scope of organic pigments (dyes).