At what point are abatement plans: activated carbons or afterburners?

Flexible productivity: colour as added value

Waterborne coating: an important choice when we talk about ennobling wood

Where are water-based coatings gone?

A good question, which is difficult to answer in a comprehensive way.

On one hand, we could say that the industrial world and the new global economic conception is going in the direction of reducing costs (and pollution is a cost, indeed), improving the workers’ living conditions (even if in current water-based coatings there is a certain amount of solvent, it is undeniable that they are less toxic) and consumers’ living condition (the "indoor" emissions are virtually nil), improving material performance (almost 100% of water-based paints are used for frames painting and, consequently, they have excellent resistance "even" outside where the stresses are definitely superior to internal ones), in our “explorations” looking for virtuous companies we often stumble in organizations resigned in using traditional solvent-based paints.

The most common answer that is given by those working in this field is always the same: “I would like to use them, but they dry with more difficulty, and it is necessary to pay more attention in the preparation of the substrate, and furthermore they are more expensive”.

Is it true that water-based coating’s technology – which has been produced since the late sixties of the last century… - has not solved those problems? I don’t think so. After all there are companies that produce wood paintings – practically – only water-based, and with a recognized high quality. Unfortunately, not the Italian ones: some of them which started “in the right way”, but then they backtracked, except a couple of exemplary companies, which truly believe in a future of low environmental impact paints, starting from their sellers (at least those who we know) first ones to promote these products to users.

DRYING: Everyone assume that water-based coatings dry very slowly, slower than the solvent-based ones, without knowing that the water, with the help of some co-solvents in small quantities, forms "azeotropic" solutions that evaporate at water’s temperature (100° C), faster than toluolo (111° C), so that “hydro” paints dry out faster: seeing is believing.

SUBSTRATE PREPARATION: We talk a lot about quality, but we haven’t yet taken for granted that quality starts from smoothing, pre-treatment, in conclusion from substrate preparation?

COSTS: It is trivially a matter of market functioning, considering that if there was a greater demand, raw materials would reduce their cost and, consequently, also paints. Anyway, not to pollute is already a way to reduce costs (health care, waste, diluents, and so on).

Finally, without giving due consideration to other “defects” reported by detractors as, for example, the need to have a heated warehouse. Progress needs a healthy “natural selection”; having adequate production systems – not only plants, but also business organisation and work-condition’s respect – are essential conditions for companies’ survival.

Waterborne UV curing coating for a 5 stars hotel: sustainability and high performances

Overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, the five-star David Citadel Hotel of Alrov Group, designed in 1998 by Moshe Safdie, the Israeli architect naturalized Canadian winner of the AIA Gold Medal award, is the south side of the Mamilla Quarter, in front of the historic Valley Hinome, according to a

horseshoe plan. The outer covering is made of a rough local limestone, while the interior is covered with wood walls and wood false ceilings.

All common areas, 385 guestrooms and suites have been redesigned and spread over 8 floors of the

building, according to a design by the Italian Lissoni Associati who, by keeping the use of traditional

materials and colours complemented by other alternative ones treated in an original way, designed

the environment as a maze enhanced by the study of natural and artificial light, rich in vegetation.

A rich palette of colours, lights, textured fabrics, parts made of brass treated with different finishes joined with glasses printed on the back, with a central idea connected to the use of wood, oak for the

floor, the heat-treated eucalyptus for the walls and the furniture in the common areas and suites,

characterize and personalize all the areas, both public and the private ones of the rooms.

«The mood of each room is characterised by the prevalence of some "colours" - tells us Alessandro Simonato, manager of the office design of the Tino Sana company located in Almenno S. Bartolomeo (in the province Bergamo) who has been commissioned to manufacture all the furniture - especially the eucalyptus heat-treated dark wood, iron or burnished brass, and the "Mondrian effect" obtained with surfaces made of brass treated  in different ways, mirrors, glasses printed on the back».

Belonging to an international luxury hotel chain with high quality and surface resistance requirements

suggested Tino Sana design office to choose carefully materials and finishes.

«In the rooms – goes on Simonato – we chose, instead of heat-treated eucalyptus wood, some veneered panels with pre-dyed wood coated with waterborne UV curing paints, for "coarse", visual effect so as to enhance the matt wood».

Thanks to the cooperation of Elia Maestroni, Key Account Manager of IVM Chemicals company and the technical support of the R&D laboratory, it has been developed a coating cycle that allows to reach a surface resistance comparable to other non-wood finishes, which is an essential feature for hotel furnishing of a hotel, of course, that is subjected to large mechanical stresses and to the use of detergents for cleaning.

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Wooden floors: natural unevenesses for a sustainable product

The presence on the market of materials

alternative to wood that reproduce its aesthetic

appearance  has changed the perception of the

consumer, which tends to ask for  floors with  large

sizes  or “herringbone” recovering the idea of

the floors "nailed down" of the past and with natural

appearance.

For durability and surface resistance requirements and

in order to make easier the maintenance, the market

actually includes almost only industrially treated

and coated floors that guarantee a stable quality.

Naturalness and old floors atmosphere: to meet these

trends, Tavar floors finish can be obtained also by

using dyed reagents, both traditional and waterborne.

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A long sustainability’s path

There are big Italian companies, known all

over the world that, without prejudices, did

something in –depth  and compared with the

territory that goes on over time despite the crisis

periods, the production changes, the normal difficulties

that are part of the “undertake”.

Since seventy years Snaidero, located in Majano, in the

province of Udine, manufactures kitchens by applying

its own tradition and experience in the technological

research and innovation. The company has moved from

the original idea to produce kitchens by using serial

concepts -are an inspiration the “American kitchens”- to

the current “smart kitchen” - the English

word “smart” includes different shades of the concept:

elegance and attractiveness, creative and reactive

intelligence - able to give intelligent solutions, really

flexible, very competitive in term of costs, at the same

time, with a high quality level; these latter features

typical of Made in Italy excellence, that can be seen in the

success of foreign market (essentially American but also

English, Turkish and of the Far East), which accounts for

50% of the annual turnover, complementary to the other

50 of national market. But the philosophy which is the

guiding principle for the company’s productive choices is

still the man, both as buyer and worker. The attention for

these areas took Snaidero 10 years ago to install a plant

able to coat with waterborne products and to choose for

a large part of production, low environmental impact

coatings (high solid UV, for example) and UV waterborne

finish. 

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Harps: artisanal historical masterpieces, waterborne coated by a cutting-edge plant

It is true that an instrument intended for high-level

professional performances, under the judgment of

an expert public, it must guarantee first of all that

the instrument has been built in order to avoid any

inappropriate sounds, but all the productive processes

we visited all even the less important, are so refined, to

understand what means a “Salvi harp”.

We ask Gabriele Dutto, manager of the company

together with we visited the company, if the coating

process of the instrument has only an aesthetic

function; he answered that: «the soundboard,

due to strings’tension- it can reach a carrying capacity

of 1200 kg-tends to deform, even if the parts needed to

built are stored in a well-ventilated and heated room

for about 4 months. For this reason coating in

addition to meet high aesthetic requirements, must be

elastic so that it absorbs the dimensional changes of

the instrument and will not “break” the film».

In brief: all the instrument components are prepared

in the joinery then they area pre-assembled creating

a “raw harp” (as we call it), whose validity is carefully

checked in order to guarantee the right functioning

(the assembly of the various components is so perfect,

that at the end it looks like a unique item).

All the components are then disassembled and coated,

to be next assembled again to built the “definite harp”, at

least in terms of structure, not yet tested in its primary

function, the sound production: the specialists of the

company (harp tuners and harpists), must do it later.

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Vernici effetto "metallo" all'acqua per il decking

L'importanza che ricopre la finitura si riscontra sensibilmente nell'attuale tendenza a mantenere l'aspetto naturale del materiale utilizzato, che diventa in questo modo utilizzabile in svariati contesti e con diverse valenze. Grazie alla continua ricerca e sperimentazione di rivestimenti materici, anche chi lavora il legno è in grado di renderlo simile al metallo.
È ciò che succede, per esempio, alla Ravaioli Legnami di Bagnacavallo, in provincia di Ravenna che, in sinergia con la ICA di Civitanova Marche, ha messo a punto un'innovativa linea di finiture ad effetto "metallo" che, oltre a migliorare ed innovare l'aspetto estetico del pino, ne aumenta la resistenza agli agenti atmosferici.
I prodotti Arborea Metal di ICA usati da Ravaioli per il decking e per i rivestimenti di facciate, oltre che essere a basso impatto ambientale, sono caratterizzati da un'elevata resistenza ai raggi UV e da un'ottima durezza superficiale, necessaria soprattutto per la pavimentazione, sottoposta di continuo al calpestio.
Insomma, un esempio sorprendente del ruolo fondamentale che ricoprono le vernici: estetico, protettivo ed ecologico.