The US Department of Defense is partnering with industry and academia on an initiative to initiate the identification, development, testing and qualification of improved coating systems to protect high-value assets from degradation due to corrosion.

This initiative focuses on research/development, testing, and qualification for both commercial and defense needs for improved coating materials to protect assets, the environment, and end-users through several targeted technology development efforts. Army Regulation 11-42 prescribes the use of galvanized steel in the design of systems—and where galvanizing is not possible—the use of metal rich primers. Metal rich primers such as zinc rich primers work well for protection of defense assets, but many existing products require a three (3) component mixture (epoxy resin, amine hardener and zinc powder), which can be cumbersome for end users and lead to weighing/measuring errors that can reduce performance. This initiative will include the development of a moisture cured zinc rich primer packaged as a single component product.

Additionally, in this initiative, a wide range of substances of concern will be identified in paints and coatings used by the Army. Candidate materials with a more favorable health, safety and/or environmental impact will be identified. Where alternative raw materials provide acceptable performance properties, they will be qualified against relevant specifications such as MIL-DTL-53022, MIL-DTL 53039, MIL-DTL-53030 and MIL-DTL-64159.

Also included in this initiative will be a review of pretreatment-primer combinations which act synergistically to enhance corrosion protection. More specifically, the industry participant has developed a wide range of pretreatment technologies specifically for the aviation industry. While encouraging non-chrome corrosion protection is being observed over aluminum substrates, little is known about how these formulations may be utilized on the ferrous substrates more common in the land-based defense community. Further, it may be possible to identify synergistic performance attributes via the pairing of specific pretreatment and primer chemistries. This task will involve benchmarking promising candidate pretreatments from the aviation industry, down-selection for in-depth studies and finally identifying synergies between pretreatment and primer chemistries.

If you feel your organization has the technical capabilities and would like to be considered for this project, please complete the form below and upload your organization’s technical capabilities statement.

Interested Submissions Due by 8/22/2023.

We encourage participation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs), including Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and Women’s Business Enterprises (WBEs).