SBIR Phase I: The LumiShield Process: A Cost-effective, Environmentally-responsible Alternative to Chromium Plating

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目将解决防腐市场对更环保涂料的迫切需求。如果成功商业化，拟议的铝电镀工艺将取代现有的多种基于有毒金属的防腐涂层。采用这种新材料将消除有毒金属向环境中的释放。通过降低耐腐蚀涂层的成本，也有可能减少电镀工作流向对环境不太负责的海外地区。目前美国这些涂料的市场价值为每年60亿美元。除了环境效益外，拟议的工艺预计也比现有技术便宜。成本的降低源于镀液、废物处理和能源成本的降低。对于最初的目标市场航空航天工业来说，该工艺的可用性将意味着工人的工作条件更安全，对环境的影响更小，成本更低。这个第一阶段的努力将导致对扩大到商业演示所需的过程的充分理解。这个项目的智力价值在于它探索了在大气湿度和氧气存在下的高活性金属的非水电镀。通常，铝的电镀是在惰性吹扫下从有机溶剂如甲苯在高温下进行的。这种技术的规模化困难阻碍了它在许多应用中的应用，否则这些应用可能会很好地利用铝涂层。该研究将研究与铝电镀有关的现象，并优化几种基材的涂层工艺。有必要更充分地了解诸如电极结构、镀液组成、温度和电流密度等变量对现象的影响。这些参数中的每一个都将映射到性能，并且该工艺将针对低碳钢基材进行全面优化。最后，第一阶段的研究工作还将有助于阐明与高活性金属非水镀层相关的各种有趣现象。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will address a pressing need for more environmentally-responsible coatings in the anti-corrosion market. If successfully commercialized, the proposed aluminum electroplating process will displace multiple existing anti-corrosion coatings, which are based on toxic metals. The adoption of this new material will eliminate the release of toxic metals into the environment. By decreasing the cost of corrosion-resistant coatings, it may also be possible to reduce the flow of plating jobs to less environmentally responsible areas overseas. The current United States market for these coatings is valued at $6 billion annually. In addition to its environmental benefits, the proposed process is also expected to be less expensive than the incumbent technologies. The reduction in cost arises from decreases in plating solution, waste treatment, and energy costs. For the aerospace industry, which is the initial target market, the availability of the process will mean safer conditions for workers, less environmental impact, and lower costs. This Phase I effort will result in the full understanding of the process necessary to scale-up to a commercial demonstration. The intellectual merit of this project is associated with its exploration of non-aqueous electroplating of highly active metals in the presence of atmospheric moisture and oxygen. Typically, electroplating of aluminum has taken place from organic solvents such as toluene at elevated temperatures under an inert purge. The difficulty in scaling this technology has prevented its adoption for many applications which might otherwise make good use of aluminum coatings. The research will examine phenomena associated with aluminum electroplating and optimize the coating process for several substrates. It will be necessary to more fully understand the effects of variables such as electrode configuration, plating solution composition, temperature, and current density on the phenomena. Each of these parameters will be mapped to performance, and the process will be fully optimized for mild steel substrates. Finally, this Phase I research effort will also help to elucidate a variety of interesting phenomena associated with non-aqueous plating of highly active metal species.