REACH Compliant Hexavalent Chrome Replacement for Corrosion Protection

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Metal corrosion and wear currently costs industry $1.5-2 trillion globally per annum. The basis of many systems to mitigatethese problems utilise compounds containing hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) as used in: chromic acid anodising (CAA);chemical conversion coatings; primers; paint, and hard chrome plating (EHC). Corrosion and wear are of particularimportance to the aerospace industry where protection requirements are extremely severe. European REACH legislation isexpected to ban the use of Cr6+ containing materials by 2016 due to its carcinogenic properties. This is a critical issue forthe aerospace industry and has been highlighted as a priority in the 2011 National Aerospace Technology Strategy. Anumber of attempts have been made to introduce Cr6+ free materials and processes. The solutions have been found not tobe as robust as expected, due in part, to the lack of validated, accelerated testing methods, resulting in unexpectedfailures. Individual aerospace companies are developing their own, proprietary solutions. This has caused problems in thesupply chain, which it is finding difficult to support. This bid addresses this situation by bringing together an integratedaerospace based team from SMEs to academia to identify innovative solutions and develop robust accelerated testingmethods that accurately reproduce severe environmental applications. This will enable the sector to adopt a common