Tech Talk - Adhesives, Sealants and Coatings for Hydrogen Applications - Fuel Cell - Hyfindr Biondic
How can adhesives, sealants and coatings change the hydrogen economy? Do they even work? Stay around to see how this works because we'll have somebody here to show us. And at the end of the video, you will see if they work or not. Wow. This is incredibly tight. I am flabbergasted. Welcome to Hyfindr Tech Talks. My name is Steven. I'm very pleased to be joined today by an expert in adhesives, sealants and coatings. Damir Biondic. You are a chemical engineer in the wider sense. You've worked in this area for 18 years and you work for Henkel that have been doing this for 100 years and not only that, but you are also their evolving technology scout.
That's applying all this to the hydrogen economy. So, you're going to tell us about the future. Thank you very much for coming. I'm very excited. Let's go. Thank you, Steven. I am also excited. Okay, cool. So, let's start with the basics. What is even an adhesive? To put it very simply. Adhesives, chemicals that can hold two parts or two components together. Okay, okay. Holding together. So, like glue. How exactly does that work? Maybe we can show
it. Look at the picture here. Yes. Right. So, as I said these are chemical materials or resin-based chemicals that, when they are applied to the surface. Yes. They are in a liquid state, right? Yes. So, you have one surface here and the other one here. This is obviously now an enlarged gap. Yes, yes. But in between you have adhesives. So, what is happening? Once we apply it? There is a chemical reaction here. Okay. Here. And they are through the polymerization, they start to harden. They turn into thermosets or thermoplastic material.
So, they are solid, and they create the bond line. So here you have adhesion to the substrate. Yep. Also, here. And in the middle, there is a cohesion. And that's the chemical reaction. Does this change this material in any way? I don't know. Is it magnetic? How does this material
decide to hold onto this? It simply sticks. It sticks with a substrate with the material that you are bonding. So, this can be a metal, plastic, rubber. It really holds onto the material, onto the substrate. Okay. It's an ionic bond or physical change that happens there. Exactly.
It connects with the substrate. Okay. Speaking of connection, you mentioned you want to show us how it works. Yeah, we can do a small demo. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So, we prepared something here. Here, we have a metal screw. Yep. And you brought your adhesives along. Yeah. So how does this work? So, we have... let's say you want to... You need to unscrew this. Yeah. Unscrew it. That's good. Okay. Let's say we want to connect two metal parts. Yeah. This is just a demo to show how metal and metal connection can be joined together. Okay. We're going to use a small drop of adhesive.
You can never get somebody from the chemical company without their glasses. So, do I need to stay away? No, no. It is a liquid material. Yes. Right. Yeah. So, we are going to apply a small drop. Just a small drop here. Okay. That is enough.
And you don't have to put it all around. Now we will screw this. Yeah. What will happen? You will have a connection with that other part. So, let's do it like this. Now the magic starts. Okay. Right now, we have curing or polymerization. In this case, this is an adhesive that will cure with the absence of air. It is a very tiny gap. There is no air inside. There's no air between like two metals there. Okay, but there is a metal ion contact. Okay. That will speed up the reaction. Yeah. This adhesive will turn very strong. How long
does that take? Let's wait ten minutes. Okay. Cool. Perfect. So, that gives us time to talk more about some things. And you need this as well, for that? We can show one other material example. Okay. This is a rubber, right? And we can bond the rubber but in a very short time, then we can check the strength of the adhesive. Right. Okay. You cut it. Yeah. We'll also use a small amount. But is it just a small amount like that? Okay. And then you... Okay. That was very quick. Yeah. Together. So, we put it together. Okay. How long should we wait? 10
seconds? We have a clock. Let's see. We are waiting, this is now 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Okay, you got your 10 seconds. And is it together again? Yep. Okay. Do we pull? Pull. Wow. This is, this is incredibly tight. I can't believe it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. No. So, this is almost as though we didn't cut it at all. Okay. What adhesive was this? We have the bond of being from... This is cool. And you see it's not
even bonded to the fullest. Yes, exactly. It is just this small piece that. Don't fall. Okay, okay. You got me convinced. So, now this we've seen is adhesive. And I know that these are really making a difference, but we want to not only talk about adhesives. And maybe before that, where are they used in the hydrogen economy? There are a couple of potential uses of adhesives and sealants because sometimes adhesives can also be sealants. Yes. Okay. This is also adhesive and sealant. Yes. In this case, for example,
you have... We understand that hydrogen is such a tiny molecule. Yes, yes. And being under the pressure being captured in the system, and you want to transport it through the pipes and then you have different connections, you have valves, pipe threaded connections. So, you want to make sure there is no leakage. Okay. Okay. So that's for this kind of. But we'll look at that a little bit more in detail. Let's go to the next one, which was sealants. Sealants. Yes. Yeah. Very simple. So, what is a sealant? Sealants are chemical products that can create a mechanical seal. Okay. Meaning not allowing another material
to pass. Yeah. For example, industrial sealants would be used whenever you have to fill the gaps, cracks, joints and other openings that may be causing leakage. Okay. Either liquid or gases. Yeah. This is very applicable in the hydrogen economy because I mean there, we are really trying to be safe and avoid any form of leakage. Thanks to some of these innovations,
we are at a stage where these things are safe. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Take us little bit more into the details of sealants please. You brought some slides to show that as well. What do we have left? Next is... This is also about the adhesives and the sealants. What I wanted to make here... We know and understand mechanical joining methods. Yes,
right. When you talk about the adhesives versus all other mechanical joining methods, what are the benefits? Yeah. So, one of the benefits is you can really join dissimilar materials. Imagine Steve, connecting two different pieces of metal. Or metal and plastic or some carbon fiber materials. To give you one example if you wish. Electric motor. Yes, yes. Take a permanent magnet electric motor. Yeah. Yeah. It has a magnet, right? Yes. How do you stick magnets to the
rotor or stator? So, you mean that. Yeah. They are bonded. They are bonded. Yeah, probably because screws would make different magnetic properties come into it. Yeah. Mechanical joining would create a lot of other issues. So, unlike here where we joined the same materials, we can also do different materials joining. Right. And you can... Could you join metals to plastics like this? Yeah certainly. But you have to choose the right chemistry. The right adhesive. Okay, okay. Some other benefits, you know... They are dissipating stress evenly,
and when you have to take care about esthetics, yes, you don't want to see rivets or welding. Yeah. You want to use the material that is not going to be damaged. Yes. Yes. It could be... Take the airplane. Oh yes. Yes, yes. Think of a jet. A lot of lightweight materials. Very strong. How do you put them together? Sometimes adhesives are the only option. So yeah. And I know that at least planes used to be bolted a lot in the past
but they're getting more and more adhesive applications instead of the bolts. Exactly. They're full of adhesives for the applications. I mean, it's the evolution of, let's say, the airplanes. It's not only because of adhesives. Of course, there is the technology, design, and the materials. But the adhesives enable them to do that design, to use these materials. Okay. So, this is... I think this is the element where we can really say this can bring change to the hydrogen economy as well. So that means, you know, helping us build more efficient,
more durable, lighter, safer machines. All right. By usage of adhesives. Okay, okay. We wanted to talk about coatings as well. Do you want to quickly tell us what coating is and how does it work? Coatings are also chemicals that serve to protect or preserve surfaces of different structures. Okay. So, industrial coatings usually are designed to work in
harsh environments like anti-corrosion coatings. Right. Then you have coatings to resist abrasion, to resist wear, to resist impact. Also, you want to think about the coatings that will not allow hydrogen to permeate to the material. Okay. Yeah. So, to prevent embrittlement and things. Prevent embrittlement and create a barrier that you keep
the hydrogen. Because hydrogen is such a small molecule, we understand. Yes. Easy to escape. And coatings can be used also to do that job. So, I see you brought this picture here. This is just an example of how a coating is applied. And this could be
a pipeline that you could see. You put a coating inside. And could you put a coating in a pipeline that was previously used for another material? You know, so let's say, you want to now reconvert a gas pipeline to a hydrogen pipeline. That's the idea. You put on a coating, and then it's all fine? With the existing assets, we will be able to deal with hydrogen. Okay. Right. Just in terms
of how these are revolutionizing the hydrogen economy, can you tell us where these things are applied and where we can easily find them? In the hydrogen economy? Yeah. Let me tell you. We understand the hydrogen economy is one of the key pillars of decarbonization. Yes. Okay. Handling hydrogen creates some technical challenges. Right. And as the technologies are evolving,
talking about hydrogen generation, hydrogen storage, hydrogen transportation utilization devices and assets. There're some unmet needs. And those unmet needs are usually in the design or assembly of those devices. There's also the safety aspect. Yes. There is also efficiency that is ultimately driving costs down. Yes, to put it like this: focus on safety, efficiency, and durability in creating values. Yeah. Through the solutions that adhesives, sealants and coatings can offer.
And these are, for example, applications for the adhesives that could be used. This is just a schematic example of an electrolyzer system where you have also the stack and the cells. So, using adhesives to do bonding in bipolar plates. Okay. And then you have a lot of these connections like threaded connections. Yes. And compressors, valves, flange connections. Two flanges in a pipe. Yeah. In all, to prevent the leakage. Okay. These are all areas. So,
for example, you know, getting the membrane... So, this is... I mean obviously these are held in place by long screws I see here, you know, like these especially... Yeah, ones to hold them together. But at the same time, one could apply adhesives here to hold the stack together. So maybe ultimately, we wouldn't even need to... Let me say, guarantee so much fixture through the bolts. This could also hold by being stuck to each other. Yeah, I'm not an expert on designing the electrolyzer cells and stacks, but there's an
opportunity to use maybe different designs. Yeah, yeah. In manufacturing cells. Yes. And that you could think of adhesives, which can be automatically applied. You know, with automation, they can apply those automatically and make the process even faster. Yeah. I mean. So, I think, just like your example, from the planes where we're coming from older planes which could carry much less people to the newer, bigger planes which we can get up to 500 people on board. I mean, just the right adhesives, the right sealants can help to improve this technology to the sense that maybe we don't need these kinds of mechanical aspects again, and then we can just stick them together and be even more variable with it. I mean, this is all, let me say, future-oriented, maybe still. I think that's where these kinds of chemicals can make a revolutionary difference
in this area. Certainly. They can help. So, the idea was for engineers to consider adhesives and sealants when they're making the designs. Yeah. Okay. So don't only think your bolts, don't only think your, you know, rivets all these kinds of things, but think that these things can be glued.
And, I mean, if you look at our phones and cameras. In your phone, in your car, on your bicycle, in your appliances, in your shoes, in your glasses — everywhere, in your building. Yeah. Adhesives are everywhere. Okay. So just with an outlook a little bit also to the future, can you tell us where you see adhesives, coatings and sealants are going in the hydrogen economy? Where do you see this taking us? Yeah. As I said, technology is evolving. Certainly. Aspects such as safety, efficiency and durability. It can be improved by using adhesives. That's why we are innovating, we are constantly working on having new stuff coming, new technologies, new innovations. We're talking to our partners about where the adhesives are used.
And they can certainly be helpful when designing and making things, let's say, better. Okay. So, making things better and seeing things applied, I think we've spent more than ten minutes talking about this now. And now is the big yeah moment for you. So, I went to the little toolbox we have here, and now it's going to get real. So, this was one test and I'm going to see if I can make this happen. So, I'm going to... Is it ten minutes? Well,
I'm hoping it is for you. That should be. Maybe we should take that away. Yeah. Right. Okay. So, I will put this right here. Okay. Then... So just to say to everybody that I'm not working for Henkel, you're the one. I'm just going to try this out. So, what did you put here? Was it one of your adhesives? It's one of the anaerobic adhesives that will cure when there is no oxygen. Okay. So now just take a close look at it, and then I'm going to put this there.
Okay, ready? Now let's go. Wow. Look at that. This is... I'm slipping off. I am unable to turn it. Oh. And we can see the metal of the screws here falling off. And you can see here the... Yeah, scratches. The scratches going up. This is not... Wow. This is really not able to move forward here.
I am flabbergasted. I mean this is obviously strong technology. This is stuff that we could really use in the hydrogen economy. Well, thank you for showing us this. And for introducing us to the fact that these chemicals, which we often don't see, are making a real difference. And I am sure that they are the ones that are going to elevate us, let me say the notch again to propel us to more efficiency, better green energy in the hydrogen economy. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for watching. This has been an absolute pleasure to have this conversation with you. We hope you liked it. If yes, please press the like button or subscribe to the channel.
And most importantly, at Hyfindr.com, you can find all kinds of things that you need to build the hydrogen economy. And you can get in touch with people like Damir and lots of other companies that have amazing products that can make the economy work even better. Thank you very much for watching and all the best. Thank you.
2024-07-23 07:18
