What do you think about Aluminum Oxide coatings?

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Permalink Reply by Stephen on December 7, 2008 at 9:38pm

Hi Michael, thanks for starting a thread about your product. I am certain may people will be fascinated by it. Go ahead and post more about it.
Roger, Michael has posted a couple pictures here of his product but I forgot where they are. :))

I personally think it's revolutionary.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen on December 7, 2008 at 10:09pm

As far as AO and failures go. I have not heard of any. I have heard of complaints of peoples socks and kids knees on jeans wearing out fast when the product first hit the market. That and finish guys complaining how hard it is to sand off. lol

I only found one manufacture of finishes that produces an after market one and I think thats pretty new. Most AO comes on factory made products.

Here's that one hardwood manufacture that does ceramic finish.

http://www.awardfloors.com/buying-advice.aspx?pg=Wearmax&pd=4


And the patent, scroll way down on this one.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6475623.html

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Permalink Reply by Michael Wessel on December 7, 2008 at 10:45pm

Thanks for the welcome Roger.

As long as my product lives up to all the claims it will be revolutionary, but I have plenty of confidence.

My product is a one part clear coating that when dry forms a clear, ultra hard layer of flexible glass that protects the surface from scratches, wear and tear, UV damage heel/scuff marks and is easy to apply and maintain. It also provides some protection against chemicals. For example spills of soda, wine, cleaning products, etc. water wont damage the coating. After it finishes curing (3 days) it sits at a hardness of 9 on the Mohs hardness scale. In most applications the lifetime of the coating should be upwards of 15 years, though for tough applications like commercial spaces 10 or more years is the usual lifespan. It can be applied to wood, tile, plastic and in some cases stone. The formula that provides this type of protection is made up of a silica solution (approx 26%) suspended in a butanol solution. You can dent it and it won't peel, you can clean it with just soap and water and you can apply it to just about anything. When we first brought this product out in Japan my boss coated his laptop and cellphone as experiments, and to this day they remain scratch and scuff free and I really wish I had done the same with my phone. If you would like some technical details I can email you a sheet that has all of the JIS testing (similar to ISO) results for adhesiveness, acid testing, hardness, etc.

The uses and potential of this product are staggering. Flooring is an obvious market for a coating like this, but custom furniture, cars, high-end detailing, hand held devices, anything can be coated. As a floor coating we are currently targeting professionals as our initial customer. That is not to say an average person can't pull a bottle of this stuff out and coat something himself but with my links the US so tenuous I want any person who is using my product to know what they are doing and be able to cope with any situations that may arise.

In answer to why do I think it's useful... and by the way that's a really good question.. I think that a coating that can last as long as ours does, provide as much protection, be as easily cleaned, and be applied to as many different types of surfaces is a useful product. Everyone is beginning to focus on long term environmental impact and our product fits that bill.

Also, the post and pictures that Stephen is referring to was one I made a week or two ago:

http://flooringinstaller.ning.com/forum/topics/please-help-me-out?p...

I will be posting some more pictures in a day or two.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen on January 12, 2009 at 7:55pm

Sounds like the floor was spec'd wrong. There are floors made for that type of use and it's not a laminate.

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