Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 9 August 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5583, pp. 976 - 979
DOI: 10.1126/science.1075707
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Viewpoint

20th- to 21st-Century Technological Challenges in Soft Coatings

Robert R. Matheson Jr.

Coatings are among the most ancient technologies of humankind. Relatively soft coatings comprising organic materials such as blood, eggs, and extracts from plants were in use more than 20,000 years ago, and coating activity has been continuously practiced since then with gradually improving materials and application techniques. The fundamental purposes of protecting and/or decorating substrates have remained ubiquitous across all the centuries and cultures of civilization. This article attempts to extrapolate the long tale of change in soft coating technology from its current state by identifying some key problems that attract research and development efforts as our 21st century begins.

DuPont Performance Coatings, 950 Stephenson Highway, Troy, MI 48083, USA. E-mail: robert.r.matheson{at}usa.dupont.com

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)