SeatecHIROSHIMA Ltd. 
Beyond the sea
Beyond the sea: metal corrosion, glass, water systems and everyday products
We are looking at taking the surface treatment we use at sea to equipment on land and to everyday products. A few of these ideas have taken shape as exhibits or prototypes.
Protecting metal from rust and corrosion
An idea for also using the treatment that keeps metal surfaces clean against rust and corrosion. Professor Kuroda’s research, which the technology grew out of, has also extended to protecting metals from corrosion.
Stage: Concept,
We are considering whether the treatment that keeps metal surfaces clean could also protect rails and other metal from rust and corrosion.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Keeping glass clean (vehicle windows, sensors and more)
- Stage: Proven, Ship propellers (brass)
Keeping glass clean (vehicle windows, sensors and more)
An idea for taking the treatment we have tried on glass under water to equipment on land, such as vehicle windows and sensors.
Stage: Concept,
We are considering taking the antifouling treatment we have tried on glass under water to the glass of equipment on land, such as vehicle windows, sensors and lenses.
Related uses
- Stage: Proven, Underwater glass (windows, cameras and more)
- Stage: Concept, Protecting metal from rust and corrosion
Bacterial film (slime) in water systems
An idea for making it harder for bacterial film (slime) to form in the pipes and tanks of food factories, hot spring facilities and the like.
Stage: Concept,
We are considering using it to make bacterial film (slime) less likely to form on the surfaces of water systems, such as the pipes and tanks of food factories and the pipes of hot spring facilities.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, A ceramic that gives microbes a home (exhibit 04)
- Stage: Concept, Water intakes and cooling lines
Medical devices and more: surfaces bacteria find harder to settle on
An idea for giving the surfaces of medical devices, and of the equipment used to make medicines, a property that makes it harder for bacteria to settle on them.
Stage: Concept,
We are also considering giving the surfaces of medical devices and the like a property that makes it harder for bacteria to settle on them.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Bacterial film (slime) in water systems
- Stage: Concept, A ceramic that gives microbes a home (exhibit 04)
Equipment that faces heat or needs precision (geothermal plants, semiconductor manufacturing and more)
An idea for preventing fouling and corrosion in geothermal plants, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and the like.
Stage: Concept,
We are also considering using it to prevent fouling and corrosion in equipment that faces heat or needs precision, such as geothermal plants and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Protecting metal from rust and corrosion
- Stage: Concept, Water intakes and cooling lines
Fixing catalysts and other materials to a surface
An idea for holding materials that do a job, such as catalysts, on the fine footholds of a treated surface.
Stage: Concept,
We are also considering using the fine footholds on a surface to hold catalysts and other materials that do a job there.
Related uses
Getting urushi lacquer to hold on plastic
An idea for getting urushi lacquer to hold on plastic surfaces that normally shed coatings.
Stage: Concept,
We are also considering uses that fix a chosen material where it would not normally stick, such as urushi lacquer on plastic.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Gold on a surface things don’t stick to (exhibit 02)
- Stage: Concept, Working with paints
Reusing untapped resources (biomass other than rice husks and more)
An idea for extending the rice husk treatment to other untapped biomass and to urban waste.
Stage: Concept,
We are considering using the treatment we apply to rice husks to reuse other untapped biomass and urban waste as well.
Related uses
- Stage: Proven, Rice husks for better soil
- Stage: Concept, Clothing prints and hydroponic growing sheets
Clothing prints and hydroponic growing sheets
An idea for everyday materials, such as prints on clothing and the sheets used in hydroponic growing.
Stage: Concept,
We are also considering uses on everyday materials, such as prints on clothing and the sheets used in hydroponic growing.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Getting urushi lacquer to hold on plastic
- Stage: Concept, Greening (slopes, railway forests, hillsides and more)
Exhibits and prototypes
All of these exhibits and prototypes come from the same surface treatment. One keeps things off (the scissors); the others help things take hold (the gold film, the gold beads and the ceramic). None of them is a product on sale. The rope that eelgrass seeds take root on (exhibit 05) is on the eelgrass page, and the treated rice husks (exhibit 06) are on the rice husk page.
Scissors that tape sticks to less (exhibit 01)
An exhibit that brings the keep-it-off treatment we use at sea to an everyday product.
Stage: Concept, Exhibit / prototype
An exhibit: scissors with a fluorine-based agent, also used in dental care, fixed to the surface of the blades, so that tape sticks to them less. It works the same way as the treatment we use at sea on ship propellers. We use no copper, silver or anything else that kills living things.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Gold on a surface things don’t stick to (exhibit 02)
- Stage: Proven, Ship propellers (brass)
Gold on a surface things don’t stick to (exhibit 02)
A sample that uses kraft tape and gold to show a chosen material being fixed to a surface things don’t normally stick to.
Stage: Concept, Exhibit / prototype
A sample: kraft tape whose surface has been finished so that it peels off easily, with a very thin layer of gold fixed to it. It shows that a chosen material can be fixed even to a surface things don’t stick to easily.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Getting urushi lacquer to hold on plastic
- Stage: Concept, Scissors that tape sticks to less (exhibit 01)
Gold beads for shoes (prototype, exhibit 03)
A prototype: small beads coated with gold, to go inside shoes.
Stage: Concept, Exhibit / prototype
A prototype: small beads given a very thin layer of gold. It draws on a property of gold that is said to make it harder for bacteria to multiply: the aim is to put the beads in shoes and hold back the bacteria that cause odour.
Related uses
- Stage: Concept, Gold on a surface things don’t stick to (exhibit 02)
- Stage: Concept, Bacterial film (slime) in water systems
A ceramic that gives microbes a home (exhibit 04)
An exhibit: a ceramic whose surface has been treated so that microbes settle on it.
Stage: Concept, Exhibit / prototype
The surface of a ceramic was treated and microbes were settled on it (an exhibit). It is close to the filter media put in aquarium tanks, and we are considering its use in septic tanks and other equipment that uses microbes to clean water.
Related uses
- Stage: Proven, Rice husks for better soil
- Stage: Concept, Bacterial film (slime) in water systems
Related uses elsewhere on the site
-
Stage: Proven, Keep it off
Underwater glass (windows, cameras and more)Treating the surface of glass used in the sea, such as underwater windows and cameras, to keep fouling off it.
-
Working with us
Talking through a material or a problem (commissioned research and technical consulting)From trying a surface treatment on your material (metal, ceramic or polymer) to designing how it would be used, we work it out with you. We also take enquiries about helping things take hold, such as getting a particular microbe to settle, and help sort out problems at sea that have not yet been solved. The first consultation is free.
How to read the stages
- Stage: Proven,
- Results checked at sea or in the field, and on record
- Stage: Being tested,
- Trials, prototypes or development under way
- Stage: Concept,
- At the planning stage, including ideas shown as exhibits or prototypes
We also take enquiries about uses we have not tried yet, such as surfaces where bacteria multiply less readily, as enquiries about your material.
Talk to us