Rust-Oleum had a problem. When the paint and coatings manufacturer sent paints by container ship to far-off markets like Indonesia or Australia, the paint could settle and harden in transit, rendering it unusable and resulting in lost profits.<\/p>\n
Dennis Lay, Rust-Oleum\u2019s head of research and development, turned to 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s industrial mathematics program for help. Mathematics Professors Bruce Wade and Lei Wang, alongside Wade\u2019s graduate student, Emmanuel Asante-Asamani, learned the paint\u2019s chemistry. Then they built a mathematical model to attack the paint-settling issue.<\/p>\n
The apparent culprit: high temperatures inside the containers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe formulated a system of differential equations that were based mostly on fluid mechanics,\u201d says Asante-Asamani, \u201cand we had to customize those equations to the specific problem of sedimentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
They tweaked the model by controlling for variables like the rocking of the waves or the vibration of the ship\u2019s engine, and that helped pinpoint the problematic high temps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were some really extreme temperatures when the shipping containers were in dock,\u201d Wade says. \u201cIt was getting to 110, 120 degrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the [paint] polymers get damaged or the temperature affects their performance,\u201d he continues, \u201cpaint can settle and make chemical bonds that can\u2019t be broken.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lay says Rust-Oleum plans to use 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s findings to experiment on the paint formula. In the meantime, he\u2019s grateful for the collaboration with the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great group of people,\u201d Lay says, \u201cand I came away impressed with everything that they did. It was very supportive to have those guys working with us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Rust-Oleum needed some answers, 51ÁÔÆæ researchers did a different type of paint-by-numbers work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2985,"featured_media":37701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,175],"tags":[249],"section":[140,139],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[260],"uwmnews-feed":[158,153,161],"class_list":["post-37699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","tag-community-engagement","section-science","section-science-technology","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-community-engagement","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-graduate","uwmnews-feed-hard-science"],"yoast_head":"\n