Historicalarchived

Navy Develops Environmentally Friendly Protective Chromium Coating for Aluminum

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER

The first drop-in replacement for the ROHS, WEEE, and ELV directive's designated carcinogen hexavalent chromate. The coating is the only coating in the world that is an environmentally safe and economical replacement that meets or exceeds corrosion protection, electrical conductance, and paint and rubber bond adhesion specifications for all hexavalent chromate applications. The coating was developed by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Patuxent River, Maryland because of the lack of commercially available alternatives to the industry accepted hex material. TCP-HF can be used on aluminum, zinc, copper, brass and a wide variety of other metals. The technology was licensed to METALAST International in 2005 and is commercially available worldwide.

Applications

Military and Commercial Significance:
Hexavalent chromates have been used extensively worldwide in just about every manufactured item until banned by the various directives over the past few years due to being considered a highly toxic carcinogen. "The problem was that no non-hex products existed that provided the same type of protection and performance. The Navy solved that worldwide manufacturing and environmental challenge with the invention of TCP-HF and METALAST is proud to bring the product to market" said Joe Radzvilowicz, Senior Vice President of METALAST International in Minden, Nevada. "The product is now available on a production basis with technical test data and samples being provided as required."
Strong, lightweight aluminum is the metal of choice for airplanes, automobiles, appliances, construction materials, satellites, and many other household and military products.
Because it corrodes easily when exposed to the elements, aluminum must be coated to extend its useful life.
Until the advent of NAVAIR’s trivalent chromium, no effective alternatives emerged to meet or exceed industry standards.

Provenance

Original: https://dodtechmatch.com/dod/successstories/view.aspx?id=60090
Archived copy: Wayback Machine snapshot

This record was recovered from a public web archive of dodtechmatch.com and is preserved for historical reference. It may be outdated. Not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Contact details from the original listing have been withheld.