Aluminum Aerospace Coating May Replace Toxic Chromates
A materials engineering research team at the
University of Nevada, Reno has developed an environmentally friendly,
self-healing coating for the aluminum used in defense and aerospace
applications. The coating is designed to replace the highly toxic
chromate conversion coatings that have been used for more than 50 years
to protect aluminum and aluminum alloys from corrosion.
The research team presented its findings
at the international Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and
Solid-State Science in Honolulu. "It was well received at the
conference," Dev Chidambaram, lead scientist and assistant professor of
materials science and engineering at the University of Nevada, told the university's Nevada Today.
Since the 1980s, researchers have been working on nontoxic
replacements for coatings that use chromates, a class of carcinogenic
substances made famous in the 2000 movie Erin Brockovich. They
have been banned in consumer and automotive applications, but some
defense and aerospace applications are still exempted. That's because
nontoxic replacements with equivalent performance have not been found,
and the risks associated with failure from corrosion in those
applications is high.
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