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The story behind the 3M brand Novec goes back over 20 years and is a great example of how engineers and scientists can develop innovations that tangibly change our world for the better. Novec products touch many peoples’ lives every day, protecting equipment and people, or improving product performance in a wide variety of applications and industries.
The Novec story begins with a pressing necessity, one that had – and continues to have – huge global implications. Roll back to the late Eighties and early Nineties, when concerns about the ozone layer and environmental issues really began to gain momentum. It rapidly became clear that usage of many substances considered to cause ozone depletion needed to be reduced or phased out altogether to meet the requirements of the Montreal Protocol (agreed to in 1987, with multiple revisions since).
Materials in the spotlight included Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), widely used for applications ranging from cleaning to refrigeration. Although there was a phase-out plan, halons – another class of ozone-depleting chemicals - were subject to more rapid substitution, with the majority having deadlines in the mid Nineties.
Many organisations turned to Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as CFC replacements, typically used as refrigerants, solvents, blowing agents for plastic foam manufacture and in fire protection. They have zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) but are potent greenhouse gases with high global warming potentials (GWP).
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