Zentek, an intellectual property technology development and commercialization company, announces the completion of the Innovative Solutions Canada -Testing Stream contract for ZenARMOR™ nano-pigment in military grade, chromate-free corrosion protection aerospace paint systems, and a new collaboration with Jazeera Paints Company for continued product development and testing.
Positive test results in military grade coatings
On June 22, 2023, Zentek announced it was awarded a research and development contract through Innovative Solutions Canada to test ZenARMOR™ nano-pigment in military grade, chromate-free corrosion protection aerospace paint systems conducted by the Aerospace Research Centre’s Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies Centre of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).
Testing began on September 2023 with Zentek providing three separate batches of aluminum alloy AA2024-T3 coupons that were coated with commercial, chromate-free corrosion aerospace paint system produced by PPG Industries, Inc. and Akzo Nobel N.V. as positive controls, and the same paint systems enhanced with ZenARMOR™ nano-pigment. The coupons were subject to test conditions according to ASTM B117 and ASTM D5894 standards. After the first two rounds of testing, ASTM D5894 was used for the final rounds as the cyclical corrosion test corresponds more closely to real-world conditions.
In the final round of testing, scribed and non-scribed test coupons were subjected to 2016 hours of corrosion testing. No obvious substrate corrosion or coating defects were observed in either scribed or non-scribed test coupons.
Since there was no observed coating failure, the tests were in general successful in demonstrating the effectiveness of ZenARMOR™ nano-pigments in inhibiting corrosion of the aluminum alloy AA2024-T3. Since the positive control samples demonstrated similar performance, the NRC team recommended additional testing in other corrosion systems or featuring ZenARMOR™ as the sole corrosion inhibiting agent to better evaluate the performance of the nano-pigment in a less optimized coating system.
New collaboration
Zentek announces a new collaboration signed January 13, 2025 with Jazeera Paints headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jazeera Paints is a construction company in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Middle East and North Africa region and follows the highest international standards including ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and ISO 45001.
Zentek and Jazeera Paints are collaborating to assess ZenARMOR™ nano-pigments in their current corrosion protection products and to expand upon Jazeera’s commitment to incorporate nanotechnology to transform the paint industry.