SBIR Phase I: Game-changing One-Step Novel Coatings

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will address the problem of solvent-based primers and coatings on metals that require a conversion coatings on the substrate for adhesion and corrosion performance. Such primers also contain toxic chromate-containing anti-corrosion pigments. The objective of the project will be to formulate anti-corrosion primers and complete coatings ('supercoats' or self-priming coatings) for a wide range of metals, such as aluminum alloys, hot-dip galvanized steel and cold-rolled steel. Instead of using hydrophobic primers we will formulate coatings that are more hydrophilic but possess a highly hydrophobic metal-coating interface. Such coatings will essentially consist of water-dispersed resins, organofunctional silanes and nanoparticles. They will contain very little VOC and non-chromate anti-corrosion pigments. In this Phase I our objectives and technical results will be to, i) better understand the reactions between the components in the systems, such as resins and silanes, and how these interaction determine the properties of the system, and ii) to have at least one formulation that can be sprayed onto a bare metal and then forms a 100-ýým one-step coating that meets certain performance criteria, such as adhesion and corrosion protection. The broader impacts of the project will be that this activity will enhance our scientific understanding of the mechanisms by which coatings protect metals and how anti-corrosion pigments work in such systems. The relationship between the hydrophilicity of the coating vehicle and the water-solubility of the pigment will be addressed in this project. The mechanism by which certain inhibitors protect metals, e.g., phosphates, is another focus of our study. This high-risk project will have considerable cost and environmental advantages. Potential customers for this technology are numerous. Examples are the aerospace industry (coatings for aircraft), automotive industry (car repair finishes and modification of the painting line in automobile manufacturing plants), wash primers for repair and touch-up, shipbuilding industry, the coil coating (steel) industry, and many others, representing a commercial value of at least $100 million. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the paint and coating industry. Its societal impact will be that workers in paint-manufacturing plants will no longer be exposed to vapors of organic solvents or to toxic chromate-containing materials.