Akzo Nobel’s Aerospace Coatings business (ANAC) has signed a commercial licensing agreement with the North Dakota State University Research Foundation (NDSU) to develop products that contain chromate-free technology.
Researchers at NDSU have developed new primer technology for coating aluminum aircraft structures, which is based on magnesium, rather than chromate. Chromate-free primers have existed for many years, but the company contends that this magnesium technology is the first non-chrome technology to perform as well as chromate in laboratory testing. This corrosion inhibiting technology will now be incorporated into some of Akzo Nobel’s aerospace coatings products.
“Akzo Nobel is always striving to develop and embrace innovative technology and what’s special about this agreement is that it also has positive implications for the environment,” said Hans Wijers, Akzo Nobel CEO and board member responsible for coatings. “We will be the only paint manufacturer to use this state-of-the-art technology, which represents another significant coup for our aerospace coatings business.”
He also said that the company expects to commercialize at least one primer containing magnesium pigment during 2007.