Ion Mask is a new coating process perfected by P2i, a UK Ministry of Defense contractor; a protective layer of polymer is deposited onto materials using ionized gas plasma. The result: a coating just a few molecules thick that repels liquids but also lets the protected material remain flexible.
P2i uses pulses of radio frequency energy to activate a vapor of special precursor chemicals which combine as polymers and bind to the surface of the protected item.
The advantage of using a plasma process to deposit polymers onto surfaces is that the precursor molecules in the plasma can infuse any porous or complex object on a sub-microscopic scale. In an item of clothing, for example, every fiber is given a layer of oil and water repellent polymer only molecules thick. Depositing such thin layers of polymer during processing means that ... much greater control is possible. |
UK based PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) company, Bladerunner, a clothing manufacturer that specialises in equipment for the police and security services, often incorporating a Kevlar lining in their clothes, has just released a GPS tracker jacket for kids. In this ever security-conscious world, I can see a demand for such kinds of products, but [...] |
Evidence of perlemoen activity on farm after five arrested, releasedTIM and SHARON SALMONMYSTERY surrounds the arrest and subsequent release last week of five men, believed to be from Port Elizabeth, on a remote farm near Dordrecht that appears to have housed a perlemoen processing plant.A reliable source close to the investigation said the men were allegedly members of one of the biggest perlemoen syndicates yet uncovered in South Africa.The same source said it was suspected dried perlemoen, poached from the Cape coast, was being flown out of the region in a light aircraft from a private airstrip nearby.After initially confirming the gang had been linked to the illegal perlemoen trade, the SA Police Service has since refused to comment in any detail on the investigation. The Organised Crime Unit said only, in an unsigned statement issued by Aliwal North police spokesman Captain Ursula Roelofse, that the men had been detained at a roadblock on suspicion of possessing stolen property and released when it was established “they were not illegally in possession of the property”.The drama began last Sunday when police officers from Dordrecht and nearby Rossouw, acting on information received, cordoned off access roads from the farm Rooiwal. They stopped the five as they were en route to the farm, arrested them and confiscated two of their vehicles.The five were freed on Thursday without charge.In the police‘s first reaction on Monday, Inspector Willie Prinsloo of the Rossouw police said their investigation was at a “a very sensitive stage at the moment as this is the bottom of the syndicates‘ chain”.The police later asked that no information about the case be published because “people‘s lives will be endangered” and the investigation jeopardised. By the end of the week, the police agreed to take questions on the issue but declined to comment on the group‘s alleged link to perlemoen poaching.A team from The Herald visited Rooiwal shortly after the arrests and found it deserted, open and unguarded.Abundant evidence of perlemoen processing was found in a barn that had apparently been converted into three drying rooms, with an additional three drying rooms built on.Drying racks, salt and items of protective clothing were found along with discarded perlemoen shells and rotting perlemoen flesh in plastic drums.An outside diesel 220- volt generator was built into the back of the barn to supply electricity to run the living quarters and the drying rooms. The farm has no mainline electricity.The team also found Chinese newspapers dated between May and July 2007, as well as empty Chinese-made cigarette boxes, gum boots and an empty rifle cover. The fence around the house was draped with hessian.Neighbours, who were shocked when they first heard the poaching-related allegations, said they began noticing suspicious activity at the farm in May,“We had noticed a fence with hessian had been erected around the house, and suddenly there were lights at night, which seemed unusual as the farm had been unoccupied for a few years,” said farmer Petro Slabbert. He and other neighbours had encountered Willem Bekker, the son of the farm‘s owner, near the property on several occasions and he had told them that he and a friend were fixing up the farm so that they could host tourists there.Daantjie Schoeman said he had encountered Bekker after one of Bekker‘s associates rolled his SUV on the Skuinshoogte Pass and he too had been told how they were repairing the farm.Lenie Fourie, of the farm Wolwekloof adjacent to Rooiwal, was called by Bekker‘s associate who he knew only as “Len” on the day of the accident. Len had asked him to contact Bekker and send him to help at the scene of the accident.“All I know about Len is that he is a businessman in Stutterheim and owns quite a lot of properties in Kirkwood,” Fourie said.Approached last week for comment on the claims, Bekker denied he lived at Rooiwal and said he was living and working in Somerset East.“The farm was hired out to a black gentleman from Johannesburg. This gentleman was going to open a guest farm for tourists on the farm he was hiring from me. I was at the farm two weeks ago, but everything was locked up including the house and the sheds. Now this guy has disappeared, owing me money.“I believe I‘m implicated in the perlemoen story, but I‘m not involved at all. A lot of things have been stolen off my farm and the police are handling the case.”He said he would soon be moving to Beachview near Port Elizabeth.theherald@johnnicec.co.zaSource: http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/n...22102007.htm |