Interview with Beijing Mucheng: breakthrough and innovation, graphene coatings have unlimited potential

Exclusive interview
Beijing Mucheng Fire Insulation Special Materials Co., Ltd.
Chief Scientist Jia Weimin and Deputy General Manager Lu Fang
In November 2018, the national standard "Steel Structure Fire Protection Coatings (GB 14907-2018)" was issued, this standard is applicable to the construction (construction) of steel structure surface of various types of steel structure fire protection coatings, and has been officially implemented since June 1 this year.
the new standards, all petrochemical companies must use special fire-resistant coatings, i.e. coatings that are resistant to hydrocarbon fires. However, looking at the domestic, can produce a standard, for special industries for fire protection coatings are mostly from foreign-funded enterprises, the competitiveness of similar enterprises in China is

.
August 14th, at the BOTH China 2019 Technical Seminar held in Suzhou, Ai Tubang gave an exclusive interview to Mr. Jia Weimin, Chief Scientist of Beijing Mucheng Fire Insulation Special Materials Co., Ltd. and Ms. Lu Fang, Deputy General Manager, and gained further insight into the current situation of the domestic special fire protection coatings industry and Mucheng's new product development.
Rare graphene, advantages and difficulties coexist
" before the mucheng water-based coatings market recognition is high, but after the implementation of the new standard, solvent-free epoxy coatings have become our main products. Ms. Lu Fang said.
a new ingredient, graphene, has been added to Mucheng's solvent-free epoxy range. Its addition, can make special fire protection coatings fire prevention, anti-corrosion performance have been further optimized, this kind of coating is also Mucheng's upcoming new products.
In terms of fire resistance, on the one hand, graphene's two-dimensional sheet structure can be superimposed in the middle layer of the coating to form a dense physical isolation layer, on the other hand, graphene can be cross-linked with the resin in the coating, forming a dense protective film, further strengthening the barrier to air.
addition, graphene coatings produce denser, continuous layers of carbon when burned at high temperatures, making the barrier stronger. The overlay of multiple advantages greatly improves the flame retardant properties of the coating.
as a specialty coating for petrochemical enterprises, its anti-corrosion properties are equally important. In the face of high-intensity UV exposure and high concentration of acid-base corrosion, graphene's good conductivity and flaky tie-in barrier can shield oxygen and corrosion media, reduce the permeability of anti-corrosion coating, thereby improving the corrosion-proof performance of the coating.
the advantages of graphene have long been obvious, and its "rareness" is well known.
method of removing graphene from graphite appeared in 2004. Initially, scientists peeled off graphite sheets with special tape, resulting in graphene with only one layer of carbon atoms. Later, there have been redox method, orientation appendage method, silicon carbide extension method, Hermer method, chemical vapor deposition method and so on, but only a single layer of carbon structure graphene activity is very strong, how to get a large number and stable nature of graphene, and widely used in the production of tens of thousands of tons of paint, although there are many coating enterprises are in-depth research, but at present in the method and equipment has not been recognized as a good method.
is determined to make a breakthrough, keep the cloud open to the moon
Dr. Jia Weimin, a Chinese-American scientist who has focused on the field of nuclear energy, is very familiar with graphite. About six years ago, he began to focus on graphene materials, and three years ago, he combined mass production of graphene with coating products.
", although the domestic research enthusiasm for graphene is very high, but because the basic research is very weak, so it has not been able to enter the stage of industrialization. "Dr. Jia is well- thumbed at the current state of research in China.
talking about the original intention of choosing Beijing Mucheng, Dr. Jia's reason is simple: "Of the many business owners I have met back home, Mu Cheng (the boss) is one of the most mission-facing and responsible." He firmly believes that Chinese will be able to overcome this difficult situation, in the special paint industry and foreign enterprises under a higher. Dr
Jia led a research team abroad, mostly chinese colleagues from his former university, and worked with Tianjin University to measure them using their equipment.
"Our goal is clear - how to apply graphene to PPF coatings that are resistant to hydrocarbon fires, as well as anti-corrosion and anti-static functions."
Traditional methods of stripping graphene include the use of surfactants, dispersants, stabilizers, etc., and Dr. Jia's team has found a new approach over the course of years of research - using graphene's magnetic orientation for stripping: graphite is inserted in magnetic materials and stripped into graphene, which is evenly dispersed in epoxy resin by modifying its functional groups. Through the operation of the external magnetic field, the magnetized flaky graphene is made vertical (magnetically oriented) to environmentally harsh factors (water, moisture... etc.) infiltration, greatly improve the conditions of closure, isolation, and thus greatly enhance the corrosion and corrosion resistance of materials.
is not enough to strip evenly dispersed graphene from the laboratory, and equipment that can mass-produce graphene must be produced for coating production.
Jia's team has developed graphene ultrasonic manufacturing lines and microwave manufacturing lines that meet the needs of continuous production, in which microwave manufacturing lines produce one metric ton of powder per month. "It is only by using simple methods of continuous production that it is possible to achieve the goal of mass production."
using this stripping method and equipment, Dr. Jia's team conducted a series of tests on the performance of solvent-free epoxy coatings with a small layer of graphene (<5 layers).
results showed that the conductivity was <30 s, the anti-pressure, pull-resistant strength >30%, the bacterial inflection rate >90%, and the absorbentity was 7GHZ 6.5db/1mm.
when asked about the most difficult things he had encountered in the development process, Dr. Jia's answer was a bit unexpected - "The (fire) test is the hardest."
Fireproof Coatings Test Sample Preparation
image from Beijing Mucheng
he said somewhat helplessly: "First of all, the domestic assessment agency is the government, the application for testing needs to wait a long time." Second, because we do products, we have to do full-size testing. A test product to apply several layers, each coating a layer to go through a period of maintenance, and then to apply a second layer, so repeated many times, and each test to prepare more than 30 products. Wait until everything is ready before burning, testing, evaluation. The wait was long, but there was no other way. After
fire test, the carbon foam layer thickness of this solvent-free epoxy coating reached 6cm, 12x and strength of 18N. It has been proved that the addition and orientation of magnet-oriented graphene can greatly improve the carbon foam strength and antioxidant ability of the coating.
for specialty coatings used in petrochemical companies, the anti-corrosion, fire and anti-static properties of this new product have been significantly improved.
first national certification, graphene coatings in the future can be expected
Although the process has many difficulties, but after years of unremitting efforts, Dr. Jia's team's research results to add graphene coating scale, quality production is possible, its solvent-free epoxy coating has successfully passed GB14907-2018 new standard testing, is currently applying for the United States UL1709 certification;
about the future, Dr. Jia is confident. "We have spent a lot of time, manpower and material resources on graphene research, and have achieved initial results. In the future, we hope to work with more enterprises to jointly research, more and better products to the international. Source
: Coatings Industry