A method and associated system provides automated abrasive paint repair using automated abrasive paint repair devices that selectively sand, buff, and polish a substrate in response to received instructions generated by a controller. The controller receives coordinates of each identified defect in the substrate along with parameters describing characteristics of each defect, selects a sanding process, a buffing process, and/or a polishing process based on empirically derived rules established by skilled/expert human operators and the received parameters. The controller outputs instructions to cause the automated abrasive paint repair devices to execute the selected sanding process, buffing process, and/or polishing process using the received parameters. The empirically derived rules and parameters may be stored in a lookup table and/or updated by a machine learning module.

This disclosure relates to a method for the in-situ encapsulation and/or insulation of piping using silicone-based compositions such as liquid silicone rubber materials and/or silicone foams. The method is useful for encapsulation and/or insulation of underground piping, particularly underground piping carrying high temperature (e.g., >120° C.) fluids, such as steam. The in-situ encapsulation and/or insulation may be done by inserting a hose into a pipe cavity so that a first end of the hose is remotely positioned next to the pipe and a second end of the hose is attached to a pumping system. A silicone composition is pumped through the hose and into the cavity surrounding from the remote first end of the tubing at a first predefined rate, and the hose is gradually withdrawn from the cavity at a second predefined rate. The silicone material is allowed to cure and become rigid, thereby encapsulating and/or insulating the pipe.

In some examples, a method including applying a wet bond coat slurry to a damaged area of a coating system on a metal substrate, the bond coat slurry including a liquid binder, glass and/or glass-ceramic particles, and ceramic oxide particles; depositing fibers onto the wet bond coat slurry, wherein the fibers include metallic and/or ceramic fibers; applying a ceramic composite slurry on the bond coat while the bond coat is wet or at least partially dried to form a ceramic composite layer, the bond coat including a plurality of partially exposed fibers, wherein, following the application of the ceramic composite slurry, a first portion of fibers of the plurality of fibers are embedded in the bond coat and a second portion of fibers of the plurality of fibers extend into the layer of the ceramic composite slurry; and heating the bond coat and the ceramic composite layer to form a repaired portion of the coating system on the metal substrate, wherein heating the bond coat melts the glass particles and/or the glass-ceramic particles to form a fully amorphous glass phase or a mixture of amorphous and crystalline glass phases which bond with the metal substrate.

An imaging and repair system (100) is presented that includes a first imaging system (110) configured to image and detect a defect on a worksurface. The first imaging system comprises a first camera configured to capture a plurality of first images of the worksurface. The plurality of first images are stored in a data source. The system also includes a second imaging system (110) configured to image and characterize an orange peel of the worksurface in an area proximate the defect. Characterizing the worksurface comprises identifying a delta value of orange peel. The system also includes a defect repair processor configured to select a repair strategy based on a defect type. The system also includes a defect modifier configured to modify the selected repair strategy based on the orange peel characterization of the worksurface. The system also includes a defect repair tool (120) configured to automatically effect the modified repair strategy.

A free radical curable automotive body primer is provided that has a color change corresponding to the progress of the cure process until a dry to sand condition has been attained and an internal colored guide coat that does not change color given its exposure to ambient air and as a result, has a different color on the surface of the primer than when in bulk, allowing for the detection and removal of low spots or other imperfections from a vehicle body by additional sanding of the inventive primer to remove oxidized guide coat colorant surface regions. The cure color change is achieved through resort to at least one color changing dye that reacts with a free radical cure initiator during the vehicle body priming process and changes color to indicate when the primer composition has achieved a level of cure so as to be dry enough to sand.

A compound delivery applicator comprising a substantially conical portion comprising a first end configured to couple to a compound receptacle and an applicator blade coupled to the substantially conical portion. The applicator blade comprises a first portion extending outwardly along a longitudinal axis of and from a second end of the substantially conical portion, the first portion comprising a first side edge and a second side edge each forming an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the substantially conical portion and a scraper coupled to the first portion distal the substantially conical portion. The compound delivery applicator further comprises a compound delivery channel extending internally through at least a portion of the substantially conical portion, the compound delivery channel further extending through the scraper of the applicator blade and configured to pass a compound therethrough.

A compounding system for use in finishing a vehicle having a vehicle body having painted surfaces. The compounding system employs a sprayer having a nozzle having a fluid opening that is substantially 3 millimeters in diameter and a reservoir in communication with the fluid opening. Compressed air carries compound paste from the reservoir to the fluid opening to atomize the compound paste into a compound spray that is used to cover all of the painted surfaces of the vehicle with a thin, uniform coating in a single step. The compound paste is removed by buffing all painted surfaces on the vehicle body to a shine in a single step.

A method for re-coating a razor blade (30) of a razor cartridge (10) comprises removing the razor blade (30) attached to a blade support (40) from a housing (20) of the razor cartridge (10). The method also comprises inducing a relative movement between a PTFE material and an edge (32) of the razor blade (30) attached to the blade support (40) to deposit PTFE onto at least a portion of a surface of the edge (32) of the razor blade (30) to form a re-coated razor blade (30) attached to the blade support (40). The method further comprises arranging the re-coated razor blade (30) attached to the blade support (40) into a housing (20) of a razor cartridge (10). A device (100, 200) for re-coating a razor blade (30) is also disclosed.

The disclosure relates to a self-healing laminate composition. The composition includes a first, self-healing layer with a self-healing polymer and a second, mechanical layer adjacent to the first layer. The second layer includes any desired polymer, for example a crosslinked polymer, a thermoplastic polymer, or a functional thermoset polymer. Self-healing polymers with dynamic covalent bonds are suitable, for example those with dynamic urea bonds and/or dynamic urethane bonds. A self-healing polymer that is damaged can undergo autonomous repair when separated surfaces re-contact each other due to the soft nature of the self-healing polymer, whereupon reversible bonds can reform to rejoin and repair the damaged self-healing polymer. When the self-healing laminate according to the disclosure is damaged, the self-healing mechanism of the first layer can cause the repair of both layers. The self-healing laminate composition can be used as a coating on any of a variety of substrates to provide self-healing properties to a surface of the substrate.

A method for stripping a coating off of a blade includes discharging liquid nitrogen through a nozzle onto the blade at a coating to cause lifting of the coating from a substrate of the blade and traversing the nozzle along the blade to cause peeling of the coating off of the substrate of the blade as the nozzle traverses the blade.