Corrosion costs the DoD billions of dollars annually and heavily impacts the availability of defense assets to carry out their missions. To maintain military readiness and reduce maintenance costs, the DoD protects weapons systems from corrosion using various surface engineering technologies. Historically, both corrosion mitigation and repair technologies have required hexavalent chromium, and other hazardous or toxic materials. SERDP and ESTCP are developing and demonstrating the science, tools, and techniques needed to meet critical defense performance criteria while also reducing the impact on the environment and protecting the health of DoD workers and military personnel.
Coating systems on DoD weapons systems are designed to perform under high stress conditions and to mitigate against a variety of failure modes. SERDP and ESTCP develop and demonstrate sustainable coating systems that improve safety, efficiency, and performance.
Repair of military weapons systems must meet strict performance requirements and is intended to last for a complete maintenance cycle of seven to ten years. SERDP and ESTCP are developing and demonstrating the science, tools, and techniques needed to maintain aging fleets while also reducing the impact on the environment and protecting the health of DoD workers and military personnel.
The mechanism related to a coating system failure is of great interest in that understanding the mode of failure can help in predicting coating lifetime depending on environmental exposure.
SERDP and ESTCP are developing and demonstrating composite materials that offer a number of performance advantages when compared to metals.
