StoColor Dryonic® – Beautifully dry, come what may

The fog-basking beetle from the African Namib desert was the inspiration for StoColor Dryonic® facade paint. This creature has been blessed with long hind legs to help it collect water. When fog drifts across the sand dunes early in the morning, it lowers its head and raises its rear. This allows the fog condensing on its shell to run directly into its mouth.

The only reason that this headstand technique works so well is that the shell on the back of the fog-basking beetle is covered in no end of microscopic dimples. The hydrophilic tips allow for the water to condense and the gaps in between ensure that it runs off. This microtexture was taken as the inspiration for StoColor Dryonic® using binders and fillers. It works on virtually all conventional construction substrates, including render, concrete, brick, metal, clay tiles, fibre cement slabs, timber, and plastic.

• Very quick drying after rain and dew formation
• Biomimetic principle for dry facades to protect against algae and fungal attack
• Without biocidal film protection
• Extremely wide colour shade variety and high level of colour stability
• Minimal extender material breakdown (not easily scuffed)
• Can be applied to virtually all conventional construction substrates
• Slight silk gloss visible depending on angle
• Optionally available with heat shield against solar heating (X-black Technology)

Classes in accordance with EN 1062-1:

• Water vapour diffusion: V2 (medium)
• Water permeability: W3 (low)
• CO2 permeability: class C1 (inhibiting)

Fraunhofer LBF in Darmstadt has tested five facade paints for their ability to drain off condensed surface water. The measurements clearly demonstrate that StoColor Dryonic® drains off the water the quickest while hardly absorbing any moisture.

The key question was how quickly condensation runs off a cool, vertical surface. With StoColor Dryonic®, the answer is two hours. All of the other paints put to the test took at least three hours.

Testing the panel weights also confirmed that the most water did indeed drain off with StoColor Dryonic®. With the silicate emulsion paint tested, the effect was actually the opposite. After five hours, the layer of paint had absorbed all of the water.

Almost all conventional construction substrates can be coated with the Dryonic® range of paints:

1) StoColor Dryonic® for cement shingles
2) StoColor Dryonic® for roof tiles
3) StoColor Dryonic® as a finish on external wall insulation systems
4) StoColor Dryonic® with X-black Technology to prevent intense colour shades from heating up in the sun (FT 37100)
5) StoColor Dryonic® for galvanised sheet metal, plastic substrates, and aluminium substrates
6) StoColor Dryonic® Wood for semi-dimensionally stable wooden substrates
7) StoColor Dryonic® for fair-faced concrete
8) StoColor Dryonic® for gutters
9) StoColor Dryonic® S for HPL boards, also available in RAL colour shades
10) StoColor Dryonic® Wood for roof soffits

StoColor Dryonic® Wood has been developed with demanding wooden substrates specifically in mind. The paint has an isolating effect against many wood constituents and also protects against causes of discolouration, such as algae and fungal attack. Equipped with SunBlock and X-black Technology, it stops damage being caused by UV radiation and overheating. The wood stays nice and pristine for a long time. Application is speedy and straightforward, with StoColor Dryonic® Wood inhibiting problematic wood constituents. There is no need for an intermediate coat.

At a glance:

• Dryonic® Technology: biomimetic principle for dry wood facades to protect against algae and fungal attack
• Very quick drying after rain and dew formation
• SunBlock Technology: for maximum colour shade variety and colour stability
• X-black Technology: keeps temperatures below 65 °C when exposed to solar radiation, even with dark colour shades
• Isolating effect against many wood constituents
• For semi-dimensionally stable and non-dimensionally stable wooden substrates, except framework
• High level of resistance to mechanical stress
• Silk matt surface
• Retains the texture of the wood

Reiner Schmid, Head of the Facade Surface Segment at Sto:

“They are just as intelligent as each other (laughs). Nature gives rise to the most effective and incredible solutions through evolution. And our developers manage to apply these solutions to facade products time and time again."

What does it take?

Experience, time, and passion. When trying to integrate a technical property like the Dryonic effect into a surface finish, the developers in the laboratory have to swap raw materials a good 20 or 30 times so they can try them out and keep on optimising them. Paint developers excel in this kind of experiment.

How does Sto keep managing to model its intelligent technology on nature?

What makes Sto special is that every single person keeps their eyes open for ideas in the natural world that could make our products even more effective. We came up with the idea for Dryonic® when a colleague came across a newspaper article about the lotus effect that mentioned fog-basking beetles as a side note.

And so we have curiosity and chance to thank for the birth of the successful Dryonic product range. It just goes to show that we really do follow the biomimetic approach in our lives!

At Sto, we have been developing products based on the most efficient solutions from nature for 20 years. Our inspiration: 3430 million years of evolution – constant optimisation through further development. The benefit to you: radiant colour intensity, lasting UV and weather protection, facades that clean themselves, and a longer lifecycle for your buildings. We offer cost-effectiveness and ecology combined. This is what we mean by Building with conscience.

Facade paints in our iQ – Intelligent Technology generation have special properties, with their surfaces protecting themselves against rain, soiling, fading, heat, and so much more. And there is no sign of biocidal film protection. Here at Sto, we have more than 160 employees working on environmentally friendly innovations like this in our Research and Development department. A whole three per cent of our turnover is allocated to this area.