NANOTECHNOLOGY – a great history for dwarfs!

Seldom has technology received so much attention within just a few years as nanotechnology. It’s more than a trend and is considered a key technology of the 21st century.

What’s so exciting about it?
Many things around us are large enough to see with our eyes. These objects exist in magnitudes of metres, centimetres and millimetres (macro world). But anything smaller than this exists in the micro world and can’t be seen with the naked eye.

What is nanotechnology?
“Nano” originates from the Greek word “nanos” = dwarf. Nanotechnology is found in an area of magnitude which is more than ten thousand times smaller than a millimetre. Through the reduction to nano dimensions, well-known materials gain completely new properties. Innovative companies are now implementing these
discoveries to create new products and methods.

Is nanotechnology new?
No. Every human cell, for example, consists of particles in the nanometre area. In fact, Nanotechnology was used as early as the Middle Ages. Particles from the same material have very different properties in the macro and nano world. Gold becomes red in the nano area loses its metallic character. That’s why church windows gleam ruby red when gold particles were melted into the glass.

What makes it of interest for sport coatings?
An important reason for the new properties is the ratio of the particles’ diameter to their surface. If, for example, you divide a large dice into smaller and smaller dice, the surface area of the many small dice is several times greater than that of the large dice. For example, many chemical reactions occur on the surface of what is
known as catalysts (= reaction accelerators of chemical reactions). If you increase the surface areas of these catalysts, you can increase their activity.
In sport coverings, for example, effects such as water repulsion and glide effect can be dramatically increased. Nanotechnology is vastly superior to conventional technologies. Through self-organising, intelligent arrangement, the optimum coating can be produced systematically for the respective application.

Everything nano or what?
The nano world of unlimited possibilities unfortunately also allows the possibility of promises which cannot be kept, and charlatanism. Some suppliers take advantage of the consumer’s unfamiliarity with the technology and lack of background information, and bring untested, non-functioning products onto the market.

For more than 85 years the HOLMENKOL brand has stood for high-tech reliability and trust for sport coatings in professional and leisure sports. With many years of cooperation with respected partners, the company is constantly developing along its chosen path. Here, nanotechnology is only one of many technologies and is
only used if it brings red benefits.