Anti Slip - 28E ARCTEC

Steel floors, decks and panels are used in many applications from train steps to oil platforms. Untreated, this steel can become very slippery, especially in wet conditions. In many applications, corrosion is also a hazard. Safe walking and industrial operating conditions are vital to personal safety and corporate productivity. Now there’s a durable solution for both of these problems…

Durable Non-slip Coating

What normally happens 

Traditionally, steel structures have been hot dip galvanised or painted to protect against corrosion. Hot dip galvanising can be slippery and does not easily accept paint for colouring without the use of special primers. Painting is more normal for floor plates and

is sometimes  applied with grit inclusions to provide a non-slip covering. However, these coatings can degrade quickly in heavy use, resulting in corrosion and an increased slip hazard. 

Many large steel structures, including oil platforms, refineries and bridges, have been routinely protected against corrosion by thermal spray aluminium (TSA), zinc or alloys of the two. 

Why this isn’t good enough?

Whilst providing unrivalled corrosion protection in very aggressive corrosive environments, pure TSA is not really durable enough to prevent long term wear on floor plates.

What should happen?

Ideally, steel structures needing a durable coating that protects against both slip and corrosion, would be treated  with a specialist coating that: 

• Provides a suitable level of grip to avoid personal slips or industrial skidding.
• Provides comparable corrosion protection to aluminium as used in extremely aggressive environments. 
• Provides easy application by a long-standing process covered by international standards. 

What is thermal spraying?

Thermal spraying is a process of applying pure or alloyed metals as coatings onto a wide range of base materials. The metals applied are not paints with metal particles, but solid metals that are melted, atomised.

The atomised molten metal particles cure instantly as they land on the base material that is normally grit blasted first. The grit blasted surface provides the perfect key to produce a well-adhered coating. Spraying parameters can be changed to create textured coatings that give a variety of grip levels suitable for public walkways through to fork lift loading ramps. In some applications, coatings are sealed after metal spraying.

As well as supplying the 28E ARCTEC material, Metallisation offers a complete range of thermal spray equipment to apply the finished coating and will be pleased to advise on your application.

To meet the above requirements Metallisation has developed, 28E ARCTEC. A. A thermally sprayed coating, its applied with a rough texture that has excellent non-slip properties and is extremely hard and resistant to wear. The resultant coating is corrosion resistant and because of its durability, enables site owners to be confident that once it is applied, they can forget rust or slipping for years to come.