Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a new ceramic-based coating for steel and superalloys that prevents corrosion, oxidation, carburization and sulfidation that commonly occur in gas, liquid, steam and other hostile environments.
The low-cost, easy-to-apply material is available for licensing and joint research opportunities through Battelle, which operates PNNL for the Department of Energy and facilitates the transfer of lab-created technologies to the marketplace.
The new coating bonds with the metal substrate and is “resilient, inexpensive and simple,” said PNNL scientist Chuck Henager. Because the coating is fabricated at significantly lower temperatures than typically required for conventional ceramic coatings, the new process also can save energy and reduce harmful emissions, he said.
Researchers created the coating by mixing a liquid preceramic polymer with aluminum metal-flake powders to form a slurry that can be applied to a metal object by dipping, painting or air-spraying. A low-temperature curing process follows, using a commercial Ruthenium-based catalyst that enables polymer cross-linking and dries the slurry to a green state.
The coated steel is then heated in air, nitrogen or argon at 700 to 900 degrees Celsius. The heat converts the green state layer into an aluminum diffusion/reaction layer that permeates surface of the steel and provides an aluminide surface coating on the steel.
According to PNNL Commercialization Manager Eric Lund, the diffusion reaction makes the coating so durable that it can’t be chipped or scratched off.
The reaction layer on the surface of the steel is much stronger than an external coating because it is an integral part of the steel, Henager said. This layer develops during use as the coating is heated at very high temperatures, such as those that occur with the heating of pipes in a process facility.
Unlike similar products, the liquid form of the coating can be applied with a spray gun. This feature makes the PNNL coating practical for protecting large areas, researchers said.
Source: PNNL
Related stories:
Carbon Nanotube-Coated Electrodes Improve Brain Readouts
A research group has significantly improved the quality of brain-function measurements by coating metal neural electrodes with carbon nanotubes. Their work could potentially allow scientists to learn more about brain diseases that are based on electrical impulse malfunctions, such as Parkinson's and epilepsy.
Protein Fibrils as Alternative Plastics?
Amyloid deposits in tissues and organs are linked to a number of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, type II diabetes, and prion diseases such as BSE. However, amyloids are not just pathological substances; they have potential as a nanomaterials.
Versatile coating for biomedical devices lets them interact with live cells
A new type of plastic coating made from vapor could lead to better biomedical devices such as stents and catheters that are "bioactive," meaning they can interact with the living cells around them in unique ways.
Cleaner water through nanotechnology
Tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active material could be used to remove toxic chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and other hazardous materials from water much more effectively and at lower cost than conventional water purification methods, according to researchers writing in the current issue of the
International Journal of Nanotechnology.
Fighting 'fat bloom' can mean a prettier look for Valentine’s Day chocolates
Chemists in England and the Netherlands have discovered a substance that could keep those boxes of Valentine’s Day chocolates, and other goodies, looking fresher and tastier. Their finding, which prevents formation of unsightly white films on the outside of chocolate, is scheduled for the March 12 issue of the ACS’
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Two Nanostructures Are Better Than One
Imagine using minuscule structures the size of molecules to harvest sunlight and convert it into electricity. Or employing the same structures to store hydrogen fuel so that it fits into a car’s gas tank. Or replacing today’s semiconductors with these structures, ushering in the next generation of small, powerful electronics.
Potato chip flavoring protects concrete
Jordanian scientists have discovered potato chip flavoring can increase the longevity of concrete.
Nanodiamonds Help Replace Toxic Chromium Coatings
Drexel University and Boca Raton, Fla.-based NanoBlox Inc. researchers have shown that the mechanical characteristics of electroless nickel-boride coatings deposited on steel can be significantly improved upon the addition of small amounts of nanosized diamond particles into deposition baths.
