Scientists to discover a Safer Release Coating to Reduce Corrosion

摘要

A team from Swansea University which is developing a new 'smart release' corrosion inhibitor, for use in coated steel products, has won the Materials Science Venture Prize awarded by The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers. Led by Professor Geraint Williams, the team, including doctorate student Patrick Dodds, is working on an alternative to hexavalent chromate, the commonly used corrosion inhibitor which is facing an EU ban in 2019. The discovery by Mr Dodds, in late 2015, of a material and manufacturing process for a smart release coating which outperforms hexavalent chromate in laboratory tests could lead to the product taking a significant slice of a multi-million pound market. The market for coiled coated steel is potentially worth ￡3billion per year in Europe alone.