Insulated ovens include an oven entry enclosure having a quick cool-down fan and damper, a direct-fired, forced draft combustion chamber, a converging enclosure at a distal end of the chamber, an oven exit enclosure having an exhaust fan, and oven cool-down doors. Combustion burners form a first heated gas that heats a wet coated continuous metal sheet to form a dried, uncured continuous metal sheet having a first heated temperature. The converging enclosure includes more burners, creating impinging flames that heat the dried, uncured continuous metal sheet, forming a continuous metal sheet having a dried, cured water-based coating having a second heated temperature. During cooling, actuators stop the coated continuous metal sheet upon receipt of a first signal, stop combustion except for pilot burners, open the cool-down doors and operate the quick cool-down fan to avoid waste. Burners may be relit in a second heating cycle.

Provided are a photocatalyst transfer film allowing a photocatalyst layer that is uniform, highly transparent, and exhibits an antimicrobial property in dark places to be transferred to the surfaces of various transfer base materials; and a production method thereof. The photocatalyst transfer film has, on a base film, a photocatalyst layer containing a titanium oxide particle-containing photocatalyst, antimicrobial metal-containing alloy particles, a silicon compound and a surfactant. The production method of the photocatalyst transfer film includes applying a photocatalyst coating liquid to a base film; and performing drying. The photocatalyst coating liquid contains a titanium oxide particle-containing photocatalyst, antimicrobial metal-containing alloy particles, a silicon compound, a surfactant and an aqueous dispersion medium.

A method of treating a surface of wood products to inhibit the uptake of moisture into the wood by providing an aqueous formulation comprising polyethylene-vinyl acetate in water, 2-99 percent polyethylene-vinyl acetate by weight. The aqueous formulation is applied to the surface of wood products, wherein the wood products remain outdoors or in a damp environment having 60% or greater relative humidity. The aqueous formulation is allowed to dry and form a micro-film on the surface of the wood products. The moisture content in the wood products is maintained at 16 percent or less. A pesticide effect on the surface of the wood products is produced, inhibiting infestation of the wood products by insects.

Water-responsive actuators and methods for creating water responsive actuators are disclosed. In some embodiments, the disclosed subject matter includes a first layer, for example a plastic tape, and a second layer, for example bacterial spores and cured adhesive. The second layer can be created in a pattern. The pattern can include joints, which can contract when exposed to dry air and can thereby bend the actuator, and can expand when exposed to humid air and thereby return the actuator its original position.

A conductive coated composite body is disclosed which has both good adhesion of a conductive coating film to a base and excellent electrical conductivity of the conductive coating film at the same time even in cases where a glass base or a base having low heat resistance is used; and a method for producing this conductive coated composite body. A conductive coated composite body includes: a base; a resin layer that is formed on at least a part of the base; and a conductive coating film that is formed on at least a part of the resin layer. The conductive coating film is a sintered body of silver fine particles; the main component of the resin layer is a polyurethane resin having an elongation at break of 600% or more; and the polyurethane resin has one of the functional groups represented by —COO—H, —COOR, —COO.sup.−NH.sup.+R.sub.2 and —COO.sup.−NH.sub.4.sup.+.

A method for forming a multilayer coating film comprising the steps of: applying, to a substrate, an effect pigment dispersion that comprises water, a surface adjusting agent, a flake-effect pigment, and a rheology control agent, and that has a solids content within the range of 0.5 to 10 mass % to form an effect pigment-containing coating film; and applying a colored transparent paint to the effect pigment-containing coating film to form a colored transparent coating film having a total light transmittance at a wavelength of 400 nm to 700 nm of 20 to 70%.

The present disclosure discloses a waterborne inorganic anti-doodling ceramic paint for indoor walls and preparation method thereof; the ceramic paint is a dual-coating paint having an under-coating paint and a surface-coating paint. The advantage effects of the present disclosure is that: the main film-forming materials are inorganic materials, the solvent is mostly deionized water, VOC emission is extremely low, thereby having a characteristics of safety, health and environmental protection; overcoming the shortcomings of multi-components of ceramic paint needs to be aged before use, while the under-coating paint and the surface-coating paint of the present disclosure are all single-component and can be directly used, easily to apply and fast; having an anti-doodling effect, when a marker doodling on the walls, it can be easily erased; the coating has a low surface tension which can isolate the outdoor moisture and prevent the walls from getting wet and mildewed.

The present invention relates to novel coatings which are applied from an aqueous phase to substrates such as plastics, and which are overlaid with other coatings. These coatings are characterized by particularly good adhesive strength, in particular on plastics, and are thus particularly commercial.

Barriers for improved vapor mitigation are contemplated, such barriers being formed as a cured latex-asphalt mixture applied to the metal surface of a metallized substrate. The latex-asphalt mixture, prior to curing, comprises an emulsion of an asphalt component, a latex component, and water. Such barriers may be seen to substantially mitigate diffusion of chemical contaminants across the barriers in the form of gas or liquids. Also contemplated are methods for forming such barriers, whether fabricated off-site for installation on site, fabricated in-situ.

Provided is a composition for surface treatment of an Mg-containing galvanized steel sheet comprising a trivalent chromium compound, a carboxylated vinylidene copolymer, and a cross-linking agent. The composition for surface treatment forms a chromium (III) film and is also cross-linked in coating and drying of the surface of a galvanized steel sheet, thereby forming a three-dimensional compact molecular structure. Thus, a galvanized steel sheet coated with the composition has a coating film with high ductility, and can reduce moisture and/or oxygen permeability such that, not only does a worked section have excellent corrosion resistance, but also the occurrence of darkening and/or black dots can be prevented even when exposed to high-temperature and high-humidity environment for a long period of time.