UV & CORROSION PROTECTION

UV photo of the Sun (NASA)

OxiTitan™ is composed of the same safe minerals, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, that are in transparent cosmetic sunscreens used to prevent sunburn. The damaging rays of Ultraviolet (UV) light also cause billions of dollars of damage to paints, plastics and textiles exposed to sunlight.

OxiTitan works as a sunscreen on surfaces. The nanocomposite crystals in OxiTitan are so small that they do not reflect most visible light, instead they strongly absorb damaging UV energy, particularly dangerous UV-B. Unlike the chemical sunscreens such as oxybenzone, a suspected carcinogen, the safe mineral blockers in OxiTitan do not penetrate the skin barrier and are safe in all environments, including our lakes and oceans.

OxiTitan works by absorbing ultraviolet rays and changing them into small amounts of heat which dissipate quickly without damaging the structure of coated surface, helping reduce damage to plastics, paints and textiles. The key performance advantage is that OxiTitan’s extremely small crystal size provides much more surface area for UV absorption. Depending on the dispersion of the coating, UV light absorption can approach 100% (90% absorbed, 10% scattered) to give potential UPF of 50+ on textiles.

#304 Stainless Steel, after 4 weeks immersion in 3.5% wt salt water

In addition to protecting all coated surfaces from Ultraviolet light damage, the unique chemistry of OxiTitan provides a corrosion resistant oxide barrier when applied to metals. Through a process of passivation, the mineral nanocrystals of OxiTitan physio-chemically bind to the metal substrate forming a very hard non-reactive surface film that inhibits further corrosion. Even though the OxiTitan layer is very thin, the protection of passivation can be greater than a thicker coating of traditional anti-corrosives such as ecologically troublesome chromates.

Our lab has performed practical demonstrations of this profound effect as seen in the test photo. For more information see our LAB TESTS.

Advanced materials research has shown OxiTitan’s proprietary titanium dioxide, zinc, and amorphous silica based nano-coating to increase both the hardness and the abrasion resistance of the coated surface. Essentially forming a bond as strong as the very metal to which it is applied, the electrochemical binding of the high-surface-area crystals of OxiTitan imparts a resistance to corrosive chemicals, frictional wear and heat. Conformal coating adhesion is very high, rating as high as #5 (‘none is removed’) using the ASTM D 3359 film adhesion test. Imparted hardness remarkably increases over a few days and more rapidly with heat exposure, giving the surface scratch resistance. The high adhesion and hardness of engineered nanomineral coatings are useful in severe environments as extreme as engine cylinder walls and ball safety valves for corrosive fluids. Research studies have demonstrated increased corrosion resistance by a factor of 180 times on mild steel.

Abrasion studies have shown that our nanoparticle coating does not produce any difference in size of released ‘sanded’ particles compared to uncoated surfaces. Once bonded to the surface, OxiTitan wears as well or better than the substrate and does not separate from it.

OxiTitan is also stable under extreme temperatures, maintaining its beneficial properties even after high temperature exposures, up to 500º C.

The ability to protect surfaces from UV damage as well as the increase in corrosion resistance, thermal stability, impact strength and abrasion resistance on metals is are important benefits of our multi-functional smart coating, OxiTitan.