Hydrochromic coating to warn the user

Objective. To warn the user when the product is wet.

Our customer, a manufacturer of hygiene products, wants to incorporate a warning for the user when the product is wet. The requirements are: that the color change is reversible, coating applied by spraying and the color should change from white to transparent. Its objective is to create a wow effect for the user when seeing that the product changes color when wet and also to create a warning.

Solution. Selecting and optimizing a hydrochromic coating

The solution we proposed and developed was to use hydrochromic coatings that would allow us to change the color when the product is wet. First of all, we studied the material on which we had to apply the coating, a plastic piece. Knowing the substrate where we have to apply the coating is crucial to achieve good adhesion and compatibility.

The second step was to search for compatible hydrochromic coatings that met the requirements of color change, clearness, application form, reversibility and temperature resistance conditions.

Once we received the coatings, we were able to optimize the application with experimental parameters such as concentration, application technique, number of coating layers and curing time and temperature, among others.

During the project we performed characterizations such as color measurement, changeover time, reversibility through a repeatability test in the application of water and abrasion resistance.