Water is necessary for life – but it can cause problems for just about everything everything else. As a liquid it is fine and easy to handle – but as a vapour it is impossible. It, together with vapours such as hydrocarbons, oxygen and CO2, can pass through any material or barrier, they condense back to a liquid where they causes big problems.
Leakage, rust, rot, jamming, failures, short circuits, electronics faults, damage, reduced life and drug potency, quality loss, weakness, poor printing…. and the list goes on and on. Virtually every industry in the world is affected by it. The process is called vapour permeability.
As an engineering example, gaskets, seals and O-rings made from silicone, cellulose, EVOH or PVOH are great at keeping liquid water out, but are virtually useless where water vapour is concerned. Numerous products have failed or been recalled for this very reason.
One modern solution is multilayer, laminated coatings. Each layer can offer a different characteristic, such as tear- or rust-resistance, permeability to some, specific gases, barrier properties for others. Over the last few years the ability to understand and control vapours including hydrocarbons, aromas and water vapour, has become significantly more effective.
The reason for this is a dramatic improvement in permeability testing – measurements that once took weeks, now take hours and are very precise. Versaperm is a leader in this technology and offers both the equipment to measure it and the expertise to understand. We also offer a laboratory service that does the testing for you. The right coatings can dramatically improve the properties of many products and systems.
The key lies in testing each layer along with each manufacturing process as techniques such as heating, and bending, can quadruple a vapour’s ability to pass through a material.
Versaperm’s latest generation of fast vapour permeability testing equipment gives an accuracy that is typically in the Parts Per Million (PPM) range, PPB for some gasses and materials. They are ideal for development work and quality control and can test single or multi-layer barriers as well as finished products and components.
Designer materials and coatings are the way of the future and bring with them unprecedented new opportunities for both creating new products and improving existing ones. They can prevent electronics from failing, food and pharmaceuticals from spoiling and seals from leaking. They can even stop your clothes from making you sweaty!
