SONAX products: used by team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
The smaller, the cleaner
Nanotechnology is an accepted future technology, which Sonax uses for many of its car care products already today. The market launch of the first generation “nanoproducts” – the Xtreme NanoPro car care range – dates back more than 4 years. The experience with the performance of Sonax products that were optimised with nanotechnology is extremely positive.
However, the latest survey of the German motorist forum “Motortalk.de” suggests that users still need information on nanotechnology.
The poll results indicate that car owners still do not know enough about the subject (35 %). In addition, many of the participants do not feel confident that all products having “Nano” on their label really contain this technology. And the majority of the respondents (40 %) are not convinced of the technology’s efficacy.
Sonax has been one of the first companies that advanced its products by using nanotechnology and then introduced these globally. Dr. Manfred Pitsch, Head of the car care expert’s Research and Development department, is very positive about the advantages that arise from using this technology: “Again and again, we discover new application areas for which nanotechnology allows ground-breaking innovations. And car owners benefit from these in many areas – particularly for paintwork care products the state-of-the-art technology achieved pioneering improvements. In the past years, the list of innovations, which contain nanoparticles of different raw materials, has grown significantly. Today, we achieve visible and noticeable nanoeffects in many products – for example in paintwork care products, window cleaners and wheel rim sealants.”
Unparalleled paint protection
Especially in paintwork sealing the modern technology stand outs against conventional hard wax products through unmatched long-term protection. Sonax Premium Class Nano Paint Coating for example does not contain any wax – a layer of modified fluorocarbon nanoparticles, which is hard as glass, protects the paint against aggressive environmental influences for up to nine months.
The Head of Sonax Research and Development, Dr. Manfred Pitsch, explains the principle: “The effect is yielded by a hybrid formula; that is by the interaction of two main components. An inorganic silicate layer makes the protective coating hard and strong; the organic fluorocarbon layer of nanoparticles assures an ideal lotus effect.”
The paint obtains a vibrant, deep shine and intensive colour restoration, and the user can enjoy a dirt-repellent effect. Even a light rain shower washes slight soiling from the vehicle – and an even lotus effect is a sign of a great paintwork protection. A fact that manual or automatic car washes do not change: even with “intensive washing” the preservation lasts many times longer than conventional hard wax preservations.
“Nano” is not “nano”
The lotus effect is only one application area for nanotechnology, Dr. Manfred Pitsch explains: “For window cleaners one cannot refer to a water-repellent effect. On the contrary: here, nanoparticles produce a closed water film, in which cleaning substances can act more quickly and intensively.”
With its highly effective dirt-dissolving formula containing nanoparticles, the premium concentrate for the windscreen washer reaches a new dimension in cleaning performance. Also the DEKRA, the German expert organisation, certifies the window cleaner a “very good cleaning performance”. And in the 2006 issue, the German Auto Zeitung confirmed the DEKRA certificate by declaring Sonax Xtreme Clear View 1:100 Nano Pro the test winner.
Nano-sized wax particles are processed more easily
Using nanotechnology for paintwork care products is primarily about optimising the quality of application and the preservation’s stability. As early as 2004, the Xtreme paintwork care range was successfully optimised through nano-sized ingredients. The products contain wax particles which are 250 times smaller than in conventional formulas. These nanoscopic particles particularly easily penetrate the pores of all coloured and metallic paint surfaces and produce a high-gloss finish. And also modern, scratch-proof paintwork can be treated and preserved without any effort. In the polishes the abrasive granules resolve into nano-sized particles that give the paint an exceptional brilliance. The hard wax then seals the treated surfaces and protects them against aggressive environmental influences.
Excellent results in tests of independent institutions prove that nanoformulas significantly improve the caring characteristics. In 2005, AutoBild confirmed the unmatched caring characteristics of Sonax Xtreme Polish & Wax after a long-term test (test winner, issue 15). Also the Auto Zeitung rated the product “very good” in 2005.
Protective nanolayer for wheel rims
Since 2006, Sonax Wheel Rim Coating Nano Pro has completed the company’s portfolio. With this the car owner can seal chrome-plated, painted or polished wheel rims. Within one hour the sealant combines with the rim surface – a high-gloss and transparent protective nanolayer is produced.
The 21st century’s key technology
Nanotechnology is considered a key technology of the 21st century. It is not without reason that the world of the tiniest things – a nanometre is the millionth part of a millimetre – takes centre stage in the “Nano-Iniative – Action Plan 2010” that the Federal Ministry of Education and Research started in 2007.
“Nano” is derived from the Greek word “nãnos”, meaning “dwarf”. Nanotechnology is the generic term for different types of analysis and processing of materials having one thing in common: their dimension is one nanometre to one hundred nanometres (one nanometre is one millionth millimetre). The competence in nanotechnology is a core competence of future automotive engineering just as is the use of nanotechnologies in medicine. Thus, nanoparticles facilitate, for example, new approaches for early disease diagnosis and for ferrying drugs to their destinations. And nanostructured surfaces make medical devices more tolerable.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research provides further information on nanotechnology in the Internet at: http://www.bmbf.de/de/nanotechnologie.php
To view the poll of Motortalk.de, please visit: http://www.motor-talk.de/blogs/motor-talk-magazin/was-ist-eure-meinung-zur-nanoversiegelung-t2686839.html
