Graphene nanotube-enhanced gelcoats enable powder coating

A collaboration between OCSiAl (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.), BÜFA Composite Systems (Oldenburg, Germany) and TIGER Coatings (Wels, Austria) recently developed gelcoats enhanced with graphene nanotubes that impart conductivity to the gelcoat and make it receptive to powder coating. Use of powder coating instead of liquid painting, says TIGER Coatings, offers processing ease, color flexibility, chemical resistance, and zero emissions for automotive, marine, aerospace and sanitary applications. The novel conductive gelcoat, which offers permanent and stable resistivity of 10⁶ Ω/sq, is a byproduct of BÜFA’s Conductive-Tooling gelcoat series. It has been modified for powder coating compatibility. OCSiAl is supplying the graphene nanotubes and BÜFA is manufacturing the gelcoat.