Case Studies
Raw Material Restriction Rectified!
A manufacturer had a problem with their urethane product. Their vendor had restricted the supply of a vital raw material and the customer needed a replacement — fast! Previous attempts to replace the raw material had resulted in shelf life issues with their product. CAS-MI came to the rescue by quantifying the properties that the new raw material needed to have, and was then able to find a replacement material with the right shelf life, and at the right price!
The Heat is On!
Extenders designed to reflect solar heat are emerging into the market. One customer had a problem in "Hot Box" testing, which replicated the condition of the interior of an automobile. CAS-MI fabricated such an instrument with infrared lamps and digital thermometers that allowed the customer to fully explore the entire range of auto interior temperature extremes.
Hands Off My Formula!
A manufacturer was involved in a trade secret case in which a former employee opened a business and started making a special coating. The coating was suspiciously close in properties to a coating that the employee had produced while working for the manufacturer. By conducting comparative analysis on the two products, CAS-MI was able to show that the two products were indeed identical.
Long-Term UV Protection
Long-term protection against ultraviolet radiation was a customer's largest concern. From the knowledge of conducting long-term studies of coatings for decks and exterior house paints, CAS-MI was able to recommend key ingredients from a well-known supplier, helping the customer improve their long-term protection for their existing commercial product.
Broken Promises
A window manufacturer had a problem with the impact performance of a laminated glass product they produced, resulting in a serious liability issue. To find the root cause of the failure, CAS-MI analyzed the vendor-supplied laminating resin that was used to hold the glass panes together. The results of CAS-MI's analysis showed that the resin used in the windows had been formulated improperly, resulting in a material that was inadequate for the application. With CAS-MI's analysis and expert witness support, our client was able to win a multimillion-dollar judgment against the vendor.
Surface Defects Explained
A contractor had a problem with paint peeling off an exterior wooden structure. The paint's Pigment Volume Concentration (PVC) was a prime suspect. In order for a paint to have good weathering resistance properties, the resin phase must be continuous. In other words, it must completely surround the pigment. As the pigment volume concentration goes up, there comes a point at which the resin no longer completely surrounds the pigment, called the Critical Pigment Volume Concentration (CPVC). CAS-MI was able to use a new, very fast electrochemical technique to prove that the paint was indeed over its CPVC, resulting in poor weathering resistance properties.
Wall Coating Reformulated
A customer had an issue with surface hardness of an existing interior wall coating. CAS-MI was asked to reformulate the coating with improved surface hardness. We pooled together over 15 raw material companies and reformulated the interior wall coating to meet the set parameter ahead of schedule. The customer was able to beat out the competition and won a contract with a very well known hotel chain.
A Gritty Problem
A printing ink manufacturer had a problem with contaminant particles in their ink and had determined the particles were coming from a varnish used to make the ink. CAS-MI was able to use microscopic FTIR to confirm that the particles were indeed the varnish itself. We were also able to furnish the ink company with pictures of the particles, taken using photomicroscopy, to give to their supplier. Additionally, we were able to help them understand the physical nature of the contaminant material and why they were unable to mill or filter it out of the ink.
EPA Test Method 24 Limitations
An environmental consulting firm had a customer with a catalyzed coating system that was found to give off unexpectedly high levels of VOCs when tested per EPA Test Method 24. CAS-MI tested various thicknesses of the catalyzed coating, measuring the levels of VOCs recorded at each thickness. As a result, we were able to determine that the high VOC levels were not reflective of the coating system as used in the real world, but were instead due to the limitations of the EPA Test Method 24 itself.