Protection of ship-hulls from marine fouling organisms is essential for efficient fleet operation and energy conservation. To achieve this, ship hulls have been coated with antifouling paints that contain toxic material, such as copper and organotin, and create an environmental hazard due to continuous release of toxic materials. Dozens of ships painted with conventional toxic antifouling paints can make a significant environmental impact in an enclosed harbor. The objective of this project is to develop a nontoxic, zero discharge coating that protects ship hulls from marine fouling organisms. Unlike conventional antifouling paints, such coatings will not contain toxic materials, rather they will be designed to resist fouling or allow only weak adhesion of fouling organisms.
Marine organisms use biopolymeric adhesive secretions for attachment.
Theoretically, hull coatings with sufficiently low surface energy should prevent fouling because organisms would not be able to adhere to the hull surface. In order to minimize adhesion, materials will be designed with the lowest possible surface free energy. The experimental coatings will be exposed to the marine environment to determine fouling resistance, fouling release, durability, and possible surface molecular changes caused by sea-water, biofilm, and fouling organisms. Other properties such as surface morphology, coating flexibility and thickness are important. The researchers are pursuing optimization of such coating properties and are attempting to correlate their contributions to easy-release performance.