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Spinoff story

Zinc-Silicate Coating Blocks Corrosion

A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.

About this technology

Overview

NASA chemists designed an anti-corrosion coating for metals and used it to protect launch structures at Kennedy Space Center from the tropical air as well as the temperature spikes of a rocket launch. Polymer manufacturer Polyset, of Mechanicville, New York, helped the original license holder for the coating make a key ingredient in the 1980s and is now producing the coating itself, for use in bridges, hydroelectric facilities, rail cars, and oil rigs.