Topic

“Ultra Ever Dry” superhydrophic nanotechnology


Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Home Forums Gear Forums Gear (General) “Ultra Ever Dry” superhydrophic nanotechnology

  • This topic is empty.
Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1299052
    Herbert Sitz
    BPL Member

    @hes

    Locale: Pacific NW

    Lots of buzzwords, but the video in the linked article is pretty impressive. Not sure if this has ever been mentioned here on BP, I assume it has but quick search didn't show it and maybe article has some new info:
    Next Time Your Mom Says Don't Go Out In The Rain Spray Yourself With This

    #1952630
    Scott S
    Member

    @sschloss1

    Locale: New England

    If you read down through the comments, there are a couple of scary suggestions about potential toxicity of this stuff.

    Remember: the US government does not require any toxicity testing before a product can be sold in stores. I won't be surprised when these sorts of treatments are found to be toxic and ultimately banned or seriously restricted.

    #1952636
    Andrew U
    Spectator

    @anarkhos

    Locale: Colorado, Wyoming

    It would never be banned for toxicity. Oil based primer is toxic. JB Weld is toxic. Doesn't make things illegal or ban worthy. All they have to do is put a disclaimer saying not to apply it to personal use items. Kind of surprising they displayed it being used on shoes and gloves, that could get them in trouble. If it were highly toxic I don't think any right minded person would put it on anything worn.

    In a few months we will start to hear about settlements with construction workers who put this stuff on their boots and gloves and their skin started to rot off.

    #1952646
    Justin Baker
    BPL Member

    @justin_baker

    Locale: Santa Rosa, CA

    Is this the new name for neverwet?

    #1952684
    Scott S
    Member

    @sschloss1

    Locale: New England

    Lots of chemicals have been banned for toxicity. The key question is how toxic it is and whether or not it bioaccumulates.

    #1952703
    Andrew Zajac
    Member

    @azajac

    Locale: South West

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt1TfPuTzq0

    Someone had the guts to put it on their finger apparently.

    #1952705
    Colin Krusor
    BPL Member

    @ckrusor

    Locale: Northwest US

    Ultra Ever Dry is just one of many "superhydrophobic nano coatings" that has become conspicuous in the last two or three years. There is also Ceracoat, Nanopool, NeverWet, NanoProtect, Uripel, Aculon, Nano Diamond Shield, and many others. Their low-budget websites all look more or less the same, with videos that begin with "What you are about to see is real!" or "Prepare to be amazed!" These companies all give an impression that they originally sold magnetic healing bracelets and male enhancement pills and they decided to capitalize on an emerging market.

    Popular media "journalists" are in the habit of just pasting up marketing content from these websites as though the claims were fact, and calling it "news". Almost none of these products have actually come to market. The German product Nanopool, which continues to be advertised as a silica-based spray-on coating, was sold for a few months all over Europe, and sickened hundreds of consumers. Regulators in every country where it was sold had it pulled from the shelves. German regulators tested the contents from several aerosol bottles acquired at retail stores (for 30 euros each). The bottles contained ethanol, water, and some industrial solvents, but no silica. The company insisted that the absence of their magical nano-ingredient was just a mistake involving a small batch of bottles.

    The fact that there is just enough real science to make their claims sound plausible is not evidence that they actually have a product or that it actually does what they say. All good snake oil has just enough real science to be plausible. Among the glut of superhydrophobic coatings companies that are currently advertising, there might be one or two that aren't scams, but I'm not ready to invest any money finding out.

    #1952718
    Bob Gross
    BPL Member

    @b-g-2-2

    Locale: Silicon Valley

    I think you can already buy snake oil on Amazon.com.

    –B.G.–

    #1952730
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    > The bottles contained ethanol, water, and some industrial solvents, but no silica.
    > The company insisted that the absence of their magical nano-ingredient was just a
    > mistake involving a small batch of bottles.

    Homeopathic waterproofing?

    Cheers

    #1952752
    Sam Farrington
    BPL Member

    @scfhome

    Locale: Chocorua NH, USA

    Herb,
    Noticed the other day that when tap water is run on the fabric portion of an old Danner 452 boot, the water just ran away from, and was strongly repelled by the material. Even after several minutes under the faucet, not the slightest trace of moisture remained on the fabric. But now I can't remember which common spray I used on the boot. Tectron? CampDry? ScotchGuard? Atsko? No idea.

    So I can't see what's really new here, but hope that none of that stuff got onto the bottom of the boot in the video, unless someone wanted to go skating without ice.

    Colin,
    Thank you for following up on this and sorting out the info that's available. Without that, we'll probably be seeing this stuff on BPL until he** freezes over.

    #1952754
    Jane Howe
    BPL Member

    @janeclimber

    A lot of these superhydrophobic coating is silica based. The effect is convincing in the lab. There are at least twenty peer-reviewed technical papers on that topic. But the real problem is the DURABILITY issue. The coating can be easily compromised, say, by drops of acid rain. Therefore, although people proposed that the coatings can be used on car's windshield, the fact is after 4 hours exposed to ambient, the nanostructured coating changes, for example, 1) eroded by acid rain, or 2) wiped off by wiper blade, or 3) wiped off by your finger tip or a smashing bug at merely 20 mph. So you go back to your good ole wiper again.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Get the Newsletter

Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light!

Gear Research & Discovery Tools


Loading...