Development of environmental protection coating on aircraft surface by US Naval Research Laboratory

The corrosion science and Engineering Center of the U.S Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a safer, more environmentally friendly surface coating for use on Navy and Marine Corps aircraft surfaces The surface coating is a single component (1K) polysiloxane based on organosilane polymer, which will not produce harmful isocyanate and other harmful air pollutants At present, the U.S Department of defense and commercial aircraft use two-component (2k) polyurethane surface coating, which will produce harmful isocyanate and harmful air pollutants Dr Eric ATZ, a senior research chemist at the U.S Naval Research Office and an engineer in the aircraft division of the Naval Aviation Center, applied a new surface coating to a bumblebee f / A-18 fighter at the Naval Air Station on the pataxent River, Maryland In addition, the new surface coating is also applied to the uh-1y venom helicopter at New River Air Station of the Marine Corps in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and the ah-1z venom helicopter at Pendleton base of the Marine Corps in California The new surface coatings on these aircraft are scheduled for a performance assessment of 1 to 2 years "We are proud of this achievement," said Dr AZ Polyurethane surface coating has been used in naval aircraft for decades, but in recent years, we have developed an environmental friendly alternative surface coating, which has similar laboratory performance with traditional coating, and is easy for painters to use " According to the occupational safety and Health Administration (OSHA), exposure to isocyanates can cause inflammation of the skin and mucous membranes, chest tightness and dyspnea, as well as allergies, and even low doses can cause severe asthma attacks; and harmful air pollutants are classified as potential human carcinogens Using polysiloxane instead of isocyanate provides a safer coating for painters and related maintenance personnel However, the new surface coating also contains a lower content of VOCs, which is harmful to air quality during spraying Single component polysiloxane surface coating does not need to be measured All chemical raw materials are placed in one container, so the preparation time is reduced and the color of aircraft surface is more uniform The container can also be resealed for future use, which will reduce the production and disposal cost of hazardous waste Chemists at AZ and other naval research laboratories have previously developed coatings for surface ships, but aircraft coatings are more demanding "It's more difficult to develop new high-performance surface coatings for aircraft than for ships," Dr AZ said The aircraft has an aluminum shell, which means the coating must provide greater flexibility, especially in the low temperature environment of high altitude flight The aircraft surface coating must also have stealth properties for a long time " As part of the Navy research laboratory's large patent portfolio, U.S patents 9139753, 9701868 and 10190020 all involve polymer and polysiloxane coating technologies The first two patents are exclusively licensed by NCP coatings in Niles, Mich., which produces stealth surface coatings for demonstration and field verification NCP coatings is also using this technology to develop semi gloss surface coatings for aircraft The application of these surface coatings is coordinated and managed by the Naval Aviation Systems Command and sponsored by the Department of Defense's environmental safety technology certification program, with funding from the office of Naval Research (onr).