Corrosion is a persistent multi-billion-dollar problem that impacts aviation (commercial & defense) industry in terms of readiness, reliability and safety. With an average aircraft age of over 20 years, it is essential that the maintenance of airframes is extremely rigorous if these aircraft are to remain available for immediate deployment. A significant cost in the upkeep of these systems is the assessment and treatment of corrosion brought about by environmental exposure. Advanced, high-performance surface treatments are one potential way to directly address the problem and realize immediate cost savings and operational improvements. Current state of the art corrosion protection in airframes and ground support equipments relies heavily on corrosion prevention chemicals that are toxic, hazardous, and some of them are currently in the process of transitioning into safer alternatives. In this presentation a novel water-based corrosion preventive surface treatment that can be applied to aluminum and steel substrates resulting in an extremely corrosion resistant barrier layer will be presented. A detailed study on the nanocomposite’s physical properties such as wettability, adhesion, surface morphology, abrasion and corrosion resistance was conducted, and comparative performance to existing corrosion preventive compounds (CPCs) will be included in this research talk. Long term accelerated corrosion studies (ASTM B117) and UV-weathering studies (ASTM G154) for treated steel and aluminum demonstrated strong corrosion resistance (>1500 hrs) and UV stability (>1000hrs). The conformance of the novel compound to other existing MIL standards in properties such as High/Low temperature adhesion, removability, and chemical compatibility will also be discussed. Furthermore, a preliminary economic assessment was performed to estimate the impact of the protective layer on readiness and cost savings when applied to aviation components. The result from this in-depth study demonstrates the capability of a water-based surface treatment as a potential replacement for a traditional corrosion prevention compound.
