As the surface coatings industry strives to be more environmentally sustainable, Indestructible Paint has been at the forefront of efforts to develop innovative new solutions. The company is now leading the way with its revolutionary chrome-free products.

The drive to find alternatives began when REACH regulations were introduced in 2007, to protect human health and the environment from the use of chemicals. At the time, Indestructible Paint identified future issues for chrome (CrVI) which is the major component in making one of its popular, high-performance diffusion coatings.

IP1041 (known commercially as Ipal) is in high demand because it provides protection at temperatures up to and above 1,000^oC while defending against oxidation in sour gas atmospheres. This is required for hot section static and rotative components, complex shapes and multi vane segments for aerospace, industrial gas turbines and marine engines for example.

Indestructible Paint embarked on a challenging and extensive project to develop a resilient, chrome-free coating, with initial funding and support from Innovate UK. The aim was to maintain the demanding levels of performance, even though at the beginning, many thought that this would be impossible.

It took ten years of intense research, development, testing and application trials, involving multiple formulation modifications along the way, to finally develop a workable solution. The resulting chrome-free diffusion coating – called CFIpal – has now been successfully developed. It provides equivalent, if not superior, technical performance to the original chrome version.

CFIpal has already been approved by a major aerospace engine manufacturer and is in advanced stages of assessment with other key players. As a result, it’s creating a buzz in the coatings market.

There is also strong interest in other products Indestructible Paint’s team have been engineering with the environment in mind, including CFIpcote chrome-free sacrificial base coats and seal coats as well as coatings for composites, all of which have been designed for high performance.

These successes demonstrate that with innovative engineering, caring for the environment doesn’t always require compromise. Being more environmentally conscious is driving the industry to be safer, smarter and better.

www.indestructible.co.uk