
How Envicoat® Works
Envicoat® is a blend of synthetic polymers designed to alter the properties of glass and similar nonporous surfaces in such a way as to cause water, sleet, and snow to be repelled from the surface.
In addition, Envicoat® is also capable of reducing the adhesion and build-up on glass and other nonporous surfaces (hereafter referred to simply as glass surfaces) of many other materials, such as dust, salt, and other forms of environmental substances.
Water and such substances adhere to glass surfaces because the molecules that make up these materials have similar polarities. That is, these substances have dipole moments within their molecular structure that cause the molecule to have a positive and negative end. This property will cause the negative end of one molecule to be attracted to a positive end of another molecule.
When a surface has such polar properties, it is referred to as being "hydrophilic." This refers to the fact that the surface will attract water molecules and other substances that have polarity properties similar to water.
Glass surfaces exhibit hydrophilic properties. Therefore, to cause a glass surface to repel water, its polar hydrophilic characteristics must be changed in such a way that it becomes nonpolar. A nonpolar surface is referred to as exhibiting "hydrophobic" properties; that is, it repels water.
When Envicoat® is applied to a glass surface, it causes the surface to become hydrophobic. The way that this is accomplished is through the use of silicon polymers. Silicones, or more specifically organopolysiloxanes, are polymeric materials that contain silicon, oxygen, and organic groups.
The term "polymeric," with respect to these molecules, refers to their property of being able to be linked together to form long chains of molecules called polymers. The methyl silicones (also called dimethylpolysiloxanes) are perhaps the most important members of this class of materials.
The length of the polymer affects its ability to be used in glass treatment applications. For example, if the polymer chain is too short, it will not bond to the glass surface very strongly; and if the chain length is too long, then the polymer will cause a smearing effect to appear on the glass surface.
Envicoat® uses silicon polymers of optimum chain length to produce strong bonds to the glass surface without producing a smearing effect. In addition, Envicoat® contains a special catalyst that helps to promote rapid bonding of the silicon polymers to the glass surface.