dr Volkmar Eigenbrod wrote down the history of his company, Rhenotherm KunststoffCoating GmbH, Kempen, for C2

It is often coincidence that sets a whole story in motion. In the case of the RHENOTHERM company history, there are two coincidences: On the one hand, there is a coincidental retort result in the USA from 1938, created in the laboratory of a DuPont chemist experimenting with fluoropolymers. Little did he know that his strange elaboration would soon become a marketable Dupont product under the Teflon name, which would triumph around the world. Another coincidence is that a young engineer from Hesse has been working for DuPont GmbH, Germany, since 1970 – in the right place at the right time, as he will remember later.

Graduate engineer Eigenbrod is involved with the DuPont product area "pan coatings". In his day job he soon realizes that with Teflon you have a lot more “on the pan” than just a product advantage for a simple household appliance. The enormous potential of this material can only be roughly estimated at the moment, but it still awakens his entrepreneurial instinct. After eight years he is leaving DuPont Germany and on December 18.12. In 1977, RHENOTHERM Kunststoffcoatings GmbH was entered in the commercial register of Krefeld with the business purpose of “contract coatings”; Managing Director: Dipl. Ing. Volkmar Eigenbrod.

High-performance coatings for demanding industrial applications

Initially, his efforts are concentrated on finding the gap in the market with a handful of employees for his start-up, into which his declared company concept fits: development of high-performance coatings for demanding industrial applications under the brand name RHENOTHERM. With this claim, the company portfolio includes the production areas of non-stick coating, dry lubrication, corrosion and wear protection from the very beginning. Positioned in this way, it is now “only” a matter of recognizing, finding and conquering prospective areas of application. Completely unprepared, the "young entrepreneur" does not switch from his well-paid job to personal risk: the years at DuPont have not only equipped him with comprehensive "PTFE know-how", but also "thinking outside the box" and useful connections to contract coaters all over the world. As early as 1982, there was an exchange of experience and technical cooperation with the companies Nippon Fusso in Japan and Smaltiriva in Italy. And as early as 1985, a tiny little thing surprisingly led to the company expansion "RHENOTHERM MiniParts".

A tiny computer component from the American office machine manufacturer IBM is the reason for this step into the new, independent company division. The company is looking for a job coater for the European production of this precision component. It's about a coating that improves its functionality in the macro range without affecting it. The RHENOTHERM research and development laboratory has mastered this task, which not only experienced its hour of birth under this challenge, but also made the appeal of exhausting performance parameters for the use of fluoroplastic coatings obvious in the company.

Flue gas cleaning in waste incineration plants

The next opportunity came in 1985: RHENOTHERM became part of a project by Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, which aimed at cleaning flue gas in waste incineration plants. The municipal utilities have developed a process for this and had it patented. The idea can only be technically implemented with a functional coating developed by RHENOTHERM research. It is applied to lining panels inside the flue gas towers, which ensure that the gypsum deposits that form during flue gas desulfurization do not become too heavy and are easily detached.

It should be noted: After its probation, the RHENOTHERM company also received a patent for this process (its first), which subsequently proved its particular suitability for use in coal-fired power plants. The year 1986 is fondly remembered with another special feature. And again the RHENOTHERM laboratory plays a decisive role: Together with the chemical giant Hoechst, a corrosion coating against highly aggressive chemicals is developed: In the so-called "sandwich process", two fluoropolymers with different melting points and flow behavior are combined with each other. The result after an extensive test section: a doubling of the previously technically possible layer thickness from 600 µm to up to 1,2 mm. The RHENOTHERM coating is a novelty for the service life of a wide variety of components and units, such as chemical tanks or agitators. Hoechst and RHENOTHERM make them patentable together.

 

Valuable experience – and the third patent

The third patent relates to the increased performance of the "Jumbo" coating systems: the addition of certain fillers increases their resistance to diffusion, which significantly extends the service life of a wide variety of components in the chemical industry, such as containers and agitators. Just one of countless examples of how the use of intelligent coatings has an economically beneficial effect on entire production processes, sometimes even making them possible in the first place.

For RHENOTHERM, the step from chemistry to customers in the oil industry is not far away. And immediately leads to a major project: The German subsidiary of the American Cameron Iron Works from Houston, Texas entrusts RHENOTHERM with very special equipment parts with difficult surfaces. In addition to corrosion protection requirements, good sliding properties and a certain degree of wear resistance are also part of the list of requirements for the harsh operating conditions.

 

Component by Cameron Iron Works

In the 1990s, surface technology in general and for RHENOTHERM in particular was conquering new applications. The demand for coatings of rotationally symmetrical components such as rollers and cylinders is increasing. And the principle of "learning by doing" also applies to RHENOTHERM. Which means that the company first has to develop the appropriate system and application technology for uniform coating and, in doing so, gather its first experiences with the non-stick coating of drying cylinders for the textile industry. The fluoropolymers are constantly being improved to achieve impressive surface qualities with Ra values ​​of up to 0,5 µm and are applied to heating and cooling rollers for film production. At the same time, non-stick coatings from the Rhenolease family have proven themselves on rollers for laminating different materials, such as applicator rollers for adhesives.

Thermal Spray Process

In the mid-1990s, RHENOTHERM entered new territory with thermal spraying processes in combination with fluoroplastic layers. In 1997, this led to the acquisition of a license from Plasma-Coatings USA, a company that also specializes in wear-resistant non-stick surfaces. The American process combines metal or ceramic hard base layers with non-stick layers based on fluoroplastic or silicone to form extremely wear-resistant functional coatings. The hard base layers are applied using various thermal spraying processes in the form of wire or as a powder and thus form hard, structured layers. Contrary to the widespread assumption that surfaces must be as smooth as possible in order to avoid adhesions of any kind, the development of Rhenolease coatings teaches something new: A certain structure to reduce the contact surface definitely makes a significant contribution, for example to the detachment behavior of deflection rollers adhesive tapes or labels. In addition, the traction behavior of cylinders or rollers can be significantly influenced by the structure of the coating. Another area of ​​RHENORTHERM research is the functional coating of rollers that are rubberized with special elastomers or silicone. The various coatings achieve remarkable roughness qualities of Ra < 1 µm.

In 1997, a paper by Professors Barthlott and Neinhuis electrified the RHENOTHERM company management. Both scientists describe in their publication "Purity of sacred lotus, or escape from contamination in biological planta" [1] the natural phenomenon “rejection of attachments on lotus plants”. This initiates a collaboration with Professor Neinhuis with the aim of replicating this natural phenomenon in surface technology. As part of this cooperation, two patented RHENOTHERM coatings are created, which technically implement the lotus effect. RHENOTHERM is thus able to produce coatings with a water contact angle of 160° and a run-off angle of < 3°. Rhenolease Lotuflon is used for the condensation and targeted removal of solder fumes.

Move to Kampen

In the year 2000, the Krefeld production facility reached its spatial limits. The move to Kempen on the Lower Rhine takes place, and to an industrial park that will triple the company's capacity. In addition to the expansion of the production area that has become absolutely necessary, there is also sufficient space here for a generous expansion of the company's own research and development laboratory, including state-of-the-art technical equipment. It has now been proven that the complex laboratory justifies the unavoidable investment of capital. Not only internally does it show its value as an irreplaceable quality tester and improver, but occasionally also outside the RHENOTHERM walls. For example, in the cooperation with the Botanical Institute of the University of Dresden: Since 2004, RHENOTHERM has been involved - sometimes in a leading role - in various research projects for the future of industrial coatings. The laboratory employees secure knowledge gained externally and pass it on to the production level. They are also currently involved in the work on three state-funded projects, including one on the subject of "laser technology" in coating technology.

It may be the exciting excursion into the natural sciences that prompted the RHENOTHERM managing director to take on a very individual task: largely unnoticed in the company, he was working on his dissertation, which earned the Dipl-Ing. Volkmar Eigenbrod in 2010 with the title Dr. Ing. In 2022, the Kempen-based company will include the two independent divisions RHENOTHERM Kunststoffcoatings GmbH and RHENOTHERM Miniparts Gesellschaft für Kleinteile coatingen. Of the currently 80 employees, four managing directors manage their assigned business areas. The sales volume is 13 million euros.

The current RHENOTHERM product range is very diverse. In addition to rollers for film manufacturers, the company coats rollers and cylinders for the adhesives industry, for example for the production of labels or hygiene articles. RHENOTHERM Nano-Coat 50, a mere 50 nm thin coating for cutting blades of slitting machines or precision workpieces, is another current example of the ongoing development of innovative products and processes for optimizing surfaces in industry.

What distinguishes the company after 45 years of existence was also the basis of its foundation: An enormous curiosity about still untapped areas of application, coupled with the ambition to continue to find the coatings in the future that have made RHENOTHERM a reliable partner for almost half a century make industry.

Bibliography:

1. Barthlott W and Neinhuis C 1997 Purity of sacred lotus, or escape from contamination in biological Planta 202 1-8 2. Patent DE 36 28 670 Process for plastic coating and coating produced according to the process (Jumbo II) 3. Patent DE 3534724 C 2 Coating for metallic surfaces and method for applying the coating (coating for flue gas desulfurization) 4th patent DE 199 63 670 C 2 Method for producing a non-stick coating, non-stick coating and use of a non-stick coating (Lotuflon) 5th patent DE 199 35 721 C 2 high-temperature temperature-resistant layered composite (Jumbo III)

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