JCU researchers look to commercialise “two-pronged” anti-corrosion solution

James Cook University has claimed a new compound developed by their researchers is a potential “game changer” against corrosion, and is seeking industry partners to get it into new paints.

According to a statement from JCU on Thursday, a research team led by Professor Peter Junk has developed a compound combining “an organic corrosion inhibitor and a metal corrosion inhibitor” with potential in new paints.

“It’s effectively a two-pronged attack at solving the corrosion problem. We’ve combined an organic corrosion inhibitor and a metal corrosion inhibitor into the one compound,” said Junk, a Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences at the university.

“In corrosion, you can have two things occurring in what’s called an oxidation-reduction reaction. The organic part of our compound inhibits oxidation of a surface and the metal part inhibits the reduction part.

“The idea is if we add a rather insoluble corrosion inhibitor into the paint, it will not get washed away by rain and will act as a slow-release mechanism of our compounds that will inhibit corrosion for a very lengthy period.”

The researcher said his team was confident paints using the compound could solve the challenge of corrosion faced by several industries, and had been successful in lubricants and cleaning materials used on mining vehicles, which went “from lasting about last eight months to about three years.’’

He added that the broader project has been ongoing for 20 years and has recently moved into protecting steel tanks from damage by hydrogen stored under pressure.

Information about contacting the researcher can be found here.

Picture: credit Thester11/Wikimedia