As we become more aware of the potential health and environmental impacts of our activities, industry is being challenged by an ever increasing number of regulatory initiatives designed to protect the environment and workers. Most obvious among these are VOC limitations, HAP restrictions, and increasing pressure on heavy metals, brought about by a variety of regulations. The net effect is that the coatings industry is being directed toward low or zero solvent coatings systems, such as water-borne, powder, UV-cured, or high solids, and substitution of questionable heavy metals where possible. However, formulating corrosion resistant low solvent systems is not easy, and change does not come easily either. Described in this paper is the chemistry of some novel organic corrosion inhibitors, how they work, incorporation techniques, some cost considerations, and some performance results which present these compounds as realistic, economically viable alternatives to help industry move toward the regulatory challenges of the future.
展开▼
