The award reaffirms that the company’s innovative Hempadur AvantGuard is unrivalled in the protection it offers structures and equipment in harsh and corrosive scenarios

Hempel’s Hempadur AvantGuard product range was named Materials Performance (MP) Corrosion Innovation of the Year for 2014 at the NACE Corrosion 2015 Conference and Exhibition.

Earlier the product range had been declared winner of the 2014 European Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation. 

Given in Dallas, US, the NACE Corrosion Innovation of the Year prize recognises the products’ ability to significantly improve anti-corrosive protection in harsh environments.

Hempadur AvantGuard activated zinc primers use unique AvantGuard technology to protect industrial structures and equipment in C4, C5 and offshore corrosive conditions. They can be used in a range of industries and applications, from offshore oil and gas platforms to power plants and wind turbines. The product range won NACE’s MP Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award for 2014 in the coatings and linings category.

“We’re very pleased to have been given this award,” says David Morton, Hempel’s technical director for protective coatings. “AvantGuard technology is a step-change in anti-corrosive coatings and the award recognises that it can provide significantly better anti-corrosive performance than other technologies on the market.”

The MP Corrosion Innovation of the Year Awards showcase progressive technological developments in all aspects of corrosion prevention and mitigation and recognise the innovators who have created revolutionary solutions to combat corrosion and protect vital assets from its damaging effects.

“The goal of the annual awards programme is to provide a forum where NACE International members and customers can showcase their corrosion mitigation technologies-and be recognised for them,” said Bob Chalker, CEO of NACE International.

Organic zinc-rich primers have been an established technology since the 1960s. But back in 2007, Hempel’s R&D team discovered that only around one-third of the zinc in a standard zinc epoxy coating has an anti-corrosive effect. Hempel spent around 8,000 hours in the lab re-engineering zinc coating technology in order to find a better solution.

The result is patented AvantGuard technology, which uses a combination of zinc dust, hollow glass spheres and a proprietary activator to activate more of the zinc in the coating. As a result, coatings with AvantGuard technology provide significantly better galvanic protection than zinc epoxies without AvantGuard. In addition, this gives the coatings superior mechanical strength, while increasing ease of application.

The prize-winning range works very well on windmills

“As AvantGuard technology has more binder, Hempadur AvantGuard coatings are more robust and flexible than other zinc coatings, so they are very resistant to cracks, even when they are over applied,” explained Morton. “This is significant for customers as the most common cause of coating failure is over-application, particularly on weld seems and corners and edges.”

He continued: “Customers will also benefit from the coating’s resistance to rust creep. A coating is often damaged during active service, and rust from the damage can spread further into the coating. AvantGuard technology is very resistant to this creep, which significantly reduces repair requirements.”

The increased protection and durability of Hempadur AvantGuard coatings have been proven in extensive Hempel tests, including salt spray tests (ISO 12944 part 6), cyclic corrosion tests (ISO 20340 – Norsok M-501 revision 6) and thermal cycling resistance tests (NACE cracking test and Hempel’s welding test).

The Hempadur AvantGuard range was released in September 2014. Currently, it comprises three zinc primers: Hempadur AvantGuard 550, Hempadur AvantGuard 750 and Hempadur AvantGuard 770.

The MP Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award is the second award given by NACE to Hempel in the last two years. The company’s Coatings Calculator, a suite of online budgeting calculators designed for use by the protective coatings industry, won the MP Readers’ Choice Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award in 2013.

Meanwhile, the 2014 European Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation is to be presented on May 14 in London. It recognises the products’ ability to provide superior anti-corrosive protection for iron and steel structures in tough environments.

The award recognises the products’ ability to offer reduced corrosion, improved performance in extreme temperatures and superior mechanical strength.

As Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst Soundarya Shankar explained, “The AvantGuard technology uses hollow glass spheres and a proprietary activator to activate more zinc and enhance the anti-corrosive properties of the coating.”

Shankar praised Hempel’s customer and technical service as a unique value-add for customers. “Apart from designing an enhanced product portfolio, Hempel delivers a seamless customer service experience,” he said. “Acknowledging the need for different types of protective coatings in different regions of Europe due to varied climatic conditions, the company customises its solutions to suit specific customer needs. Designing a global solution and tailoring it to suit customer requirements is Hempel’s USP.