Request for Proposals – Easy to Clean Coatings for Use at High Temperatures

NineSigma’s client manufactures white goods.  During use, consumers may spill food on product surfaces.  Some contaminated surfaces may be heated before the consumer discovers the spill.  NineSigma’s client seeks surface treatments to make cleaning appliance surfaces easier for the consumer.  These surfaces could be glass or metal.
 
Anticipated Project Phases or Project Plan
Phase 1 – Proof of concept

• Provide samples for client evaluation

Phase 2 – Engineering development

• Optimize coating formulation
• Conduct extensive physical properties testing
• Develop methods for applying coatings at pilot scale

Criteria for Moving from Phase 1 to Phase 2
Client will consider for advancement an approach that meets performance criteria with acceptable economics and pathway to commercialization.
 

The successful technology will:

• Render a surface easy to clean with soap and water at room temperature
  • Preferably cleaned with paper towel or fabric dish cloth
  • In worst case, could use a mildly abrasive wiper such as Scotch-Brite® Non-Scratch Scour Pad, or equivalent
  • Should render surface cleanable even after food spills on surface that is subsequently heated to operating temperature
  • Should leave little or no permanent stain or discoloration after cleaning
• Offer resistance to household cleaners including but not limited to: bases, acids, 2-butoxy ethanol, anionic alkalyds, etc.
• Show no degradation of aesthetics over temperatures up to maximum operating temperature
• Be durable, with little or no changes in physical properties, with repeated thermal cycling up to the maximum temperature, for at least 10 years
  • Be resistant to abrasion or scratching
• Meet performance requirements summarized in the table below:

• Preferably, use ingredients which are food safe and food compliant (references to standards)
  • Or that use materials generally recognized as safe, which have a high likelihood of being accepted as safe for food contact
• Preferably, have a simple method for repeatable application in a manufacturing environment
  • Suitable for parts as large as 101 cm wide and 101 cm long (length for metals being precoated could be several hundreds of meters long)

 
NineSigma’s client realizes that the specifications listed above are challenging; they would be interested in receiving proposals for a partial solution towards this performance goal.  NineSigma’s client understands that one coating formulation may not work for all of these substrates and temperature exposures.
 
 
 

Possible approaches might include, but are not limited to:

• Sol-gel coatings
• Ceramic glass
• Nanocomposite coatings

 

Your response should address the following:

• Non-confidential description of proposed technology and working principle
• Availability of technical data including ease of cleaning, substrate compatibility, maximum operating temperature, colors and gloss, and application methods
• Technical maturity of the approach (reduced to practice, prototype, ready to commercialize, commercialized)
• Pathway to commercial scale including timing, estimated budget, and capacity for manufacture
• Estimated unit cost of technology
• Estimated cost to prepare 4×6 inch samples of coated substrate
• Position on intellectual property including patent references and freedom to practice
• Desired relationship with sponsor
• Team description and related experience

 
Appropriate responses to this Request
Responses from companies (small to large), consultants, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, or inventors are welcome.  For example:

• You represent a company or university that has demonstrated a proof of concept.
• You represent a company or university that has reduced method to practice at lab scale.
• You represent a company or university that has developed a method for use at pilot scale.
• You represent a company or university that has demonstrated a method ready for implementation at industrial scale.
• You represent a university research department that has a bench-scale demonstration ready to adapt.