Teflon, the non-stick coating used on pots and pans, holds the title in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the slipperiest substance on earth.
Scientifically speaking, Teflon will not chemically bond to anything, but can be forced mechanically into small nooks and crannies. This slippery substance adheres to their surfaces once manufacturers sandblast them to roughen them, apply a primer, and embed the Teflon into the primer.
In the early days, what the non-stick stuck to was a mechanical issue.
Manufacturers textured a pan by blasting its surface with grit, gouging little pits in the aluminium, or by spraying the cookware with a micro-lumpy ceramic coating or stainless steel, which formed mini-mountains as it hardened.
But the latest non-stick revolution, probably lost on cooks, is a non-mechanical means of sticking non-stick to aluminum. In this method,
which DuPont calls "smooth technology," new-and-improved sticky molecules in the primer coat sink as the pan bakes and chemically lock themselves to smooth, unmolested metal. The upper layers fuse together better, and you get a tougher pan.
Scientifically speaking, Teflon will not chemically bond to anything, but can be forced mechanically into small nooks and crannies. This slippery substance adheres to their surfaces once manufacturers sandblast them to roughen them, apply a primer, and embed the Teflon into the primer.
In the early days, what the non-stick stuck to was a mechanical issue.
Manufacturers textured a pan by blasting its surface with grit, gouging little pits in the aluminium, or by spraying the cookware with a micro-lumpy ceramic coating or stainless steel, which formed mini-mountains as it hardened.
But the latest non-stick revolution, probably lost on cooks, is a non-mechanical means of sticking non-stick to aluminum. In this method,
which DuPont calls "smooth technology," new-and-improved sticky molecules in the primer coat sink as the pan bakes and chemically lock themselves to smooth, unmolested metal. The upper layers fuse together better, and you get a tougher pan.