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

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段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多种现有的基于有毒金属的防腐蚀涂层。 采用这种新材料将消除有毒金属释放到环境中。通过降低耐腐蚀涂层的成本，也有可能减少电镀工作流向海外环境责任较低的地区。 目前，美国这些涂料的市场每年价值60亿美元。 除了其环境效益外，拟议的工艺预计也将比现有技术更便宜。 成本的降低来自于电镀溶液、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，环境影响更小，成本更低。 第一阶段的工作将使人们充分了解扩大到商业演示所需的过程。该项目的智力价值与其在大气水分和氧气存在下对高活性金属的非水电镀的探索有关。 通常，铝的电镀是在惰性吹扫下在升高的温度下从有机溶剂如甲苯中进行的。 这种技术难以扩展，阻碍了它在许多应用中的采用，否则这些应用可能会很好地利用铝涂层。 该研究将检查与铝电镀相关的现象，并优化几种基材的涂层工艺。 有必要更全面地了解电极配置、镀液成分、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，这第一阶段的研究工作也将有助于阐明各种有趣的现象与非水电镀的高活性金属物种。

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.