Nanotechnology offers better way to coat steel

Daily Commercial News (Dafoe) - A team of three American companies has been awarded $1.79 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to create a new way to coat steel faster, cheaper and greener...It will use a high-intensity infrared light source to bond nanocomposite metal-ceramic and polymer coatings onto steel surfaces for use in infrastructure projects. The research team is hoping that the process will replace the electroplating, chromate primers, hot-dip galvanizing and fusion-bonded epoxy technologies that are commonplace today.

The smaller they go with the engineering process, the harder the material becomes in many metals and ceramics. The technology also increases corrosion resistance because the bonded materials move well with the metals below them. “That gives us the advantage of having these hard particles that have the wear and corrosion resistance in a metal matrix that is more ductile and tough,” Engleman said.