Making major headway on our fabric protector

We recently,  in the last few days made some really good progress on our fabric protector.

My cousin is a chemist who works for Chevron developing polymers,   he is helping us accomplish this in his free time.    We started working with what we thought was close to this technology about a year ago after hearing it was being used overseas.       We now have a supply of the main base ingredient.      It is completely natural,  inert,  very very low voc,  and completely safe for use in homes.    It is no where near the toxic levels of scotch guard and creates enough surface tension to bead and repel liquids without changing the feel of the fabric.    

It is not for consumers as it needs to be only applied to fabric that is completely residue free and near neutral pH,   so the fabric needs to be cleaned and dried first...  so it has to be clean rinsed with no matrix or other acid rinse.     If cleaning with higher pH you would need to neutralize without another chem.    

So far it can withstand foot traffic (as much as we have been able to give it),  and about 4 steam cleanings before needing to be replaced.    If the liquid is rubbed in while sitting on the treated fabric it will break the surface tension,   but the liquid wont enter the fiber,  only seep in between on cut pile.    So basically it gives anyone a good long time to soak up the liquid before it gets a chance to turn into a stain.    

It beads up like crazy,  and again is all natural.      It is also protecting from dry soil very well.        

Thank you Joe for the time you spent on the phone with me discussing this,   it helped us find a missing link.        We were trying to create something from scratch that needed high tech expensive equipment to accomplish which just wasnt going to work,   so we were able to find a partially made version that is used in another industry.  


seems like a long shot being able to make something that 3m and other huge companies have invested lots of money into,   but scotchguard is very old and they are looking for ways to replace it due to the toxicity.    

a large company that owns the patent to this technology is the one who is supplying us with the samples,   they just use it in a different form for other uses but are aware of what it can do for protecting fabric.      

I just told them the truth,  that we are a very small company,  not a big laboratory...    and that maybe it is a long shot but would they possibly help us out with samples and some valuable info...   turned out they were very helpful and the rep I spoke with was a very down to earth person.     I told him we found something similar from another lab but the cost after shipping it here was so bad our price would have been 1.00/sq ft...   which would never work.


Not looking to make a ton of money,   just want to provide something more effective than green guard and much safer than scotch guard.  

Once we have something that has been tested in all the ways we possibly can with what we have available,   I will send anyone interested a free sample to try out.  


So far what we have is working very very well,    we have been working on this for past year and were close at times but this is the first progress to where I felt it was worth telling you guys about.

That is inspiring both in that you were able to keep the passion to stick with it for such a long time and in your success at a working product.

Keep slaying the giants gang, this IS the future for this industry, the guys in the trenches taking over!  

Sounds like a good deal, may the force be with you!   

I think it is AWESOME that you have gone to these lengths to develop a MUCH needed, SAFE alternative to Teflon type protectors.
We definitely need this. I ONLY offer this type of protector to customers who special request it at this point (Maxim) but would gladly offer it normally were it a SAFE protector.

One thing is sticking out though, is that DRY application part. Does this mean we have to come back later to apply it? How dry do you mean?

It just means that you would need to recover as much as possible then speed dry with fans to get it as dry as possible before applying it. It can have a little moisture, but main thing is it cant be rinsed with an acid rinse or the performance wont be nearly as good, not because of the pH of the rinse but more because of the very minor amount of residue can leave behind.

acidic ionized water will neutralize without adding another chemical

Green Guard is safe and green and does a good job at protecting the fiber. Polymer based protector helps prevent wicking too.  

http://procleanersnetwork.com/greenprotector.html

Its go clean green guard you can get it at steam brite sunbelt and other retailers

thanks