Zentek Ltd. (Guelph, Ontario, Canada), an intellectual property development and commercialization company, has developed ZenARMOR, a novel corrosion protection technology based on functionalized graphene oxide (GO) that offers superior performance, self-healing properties, and a potential environmental advantage due to low loading of active ingredients compared to other similar products.
Corrosion protection technology such as ZenARMOR can extend the life of existing infrastructure and equipment such as bridges, buildings, and pipelines. In particular, Zentek offers the following:
- A corrosion protection technology with self-healing properties developed by Zentek over the last two years
- Third-party testing that yielded excellent corrosion protection after 1,500 hours of ASTM B-117 salt spray testing
- Pre-qualified for the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) Testing Stream—Military Call for Prototypes
- Filed a provisional patent and trade mark for ZenARMOR as the trade name for this novel corrosion protection technology
- Corrosion is a significant and costly issue that impacts naval and marine infrastructure, as well as many other industries. Citing a U.S. Congressional briefing from May 2012, corrosion-related costs amounted to $452 billion USD per year, according to Zentek CEO Greg Fenton.
“To help address this issue, corrosion protection coatings are used to extend the life of existing infrastructure and equipment, generally providing a high return on investment,” says Fenton. “With ZenARMOR, our team has developed a nanomaterial-based technology that has the potential to further enhance this return on investment by not only improving the performance of existing corrosion protection solutions, but doing so in a way that reduces environmental impact.”
Zentek is collaborating with Quantum Chemical (Alberta, Canada), a division of Quantum Technical Services Ltd., a manufacturer of high-performance primers and coatings. Testing by Quantum Chemical of ZenARMOR in an epoxy system following ASTM B-117 demonstrated excellent corrosion resistance with no blisters or any other signs of corrosion.
“These initial results of ZenARMOR after 1,500 hours of salt spray testing is impressive,” says Tony Lagrange, founder and owner of Quantum Chemical. “Corrosion is a significant problem, and we are excited to be part of the Zentek testing and optimizing strategy for the ISC challenge and to help address this global corrosion problem.”
Testing is ongoing and Zentek says it will report on further significant testing milestones. The company also reports that, having already met the mandatory and technical evaluation criteria for ISC’s Military Call for Prototypes, it has begun socializing ZenARMOR to Government of Canada Organizations (GCOs), as well as exploring further opportunities for partnership and testing. Conditionally qualified innovations are now listed on the ISC website.
Source: Zentek, www.zentek.com.