Available - NATO Research & Technology Organisation

Environmentally Compliant Surface Treatments of
Materials for Aerospace Applications
(AGARD R-816)
Executive Summary
Traditional surface treatments for aerospace materials are becoming unacceptable due to pressures
exerted by national and international environmental and health organizations. For example, the applied
volatile organic compound (VOC) content of organic coatings is now limited by law in several
countries. Cadmium and chromium compounds that provide excellent corrosion inhibition, as well as
desired surface interaction properties, are targeted for reduction to levels that may make them
impractical for long-term use.
Throughout the Workshop it was shown that in recent years, research and development efforts in
environmentally compliant surface treatments for cleaning, surface preparation, coating and
electroplating have resulted in new or modified materials and processes for the aerospace community.
Widespread substitution of this new technology is limited because many of the new materials/processes
have some characteristics that may not fully meet traditional performance standards. Also, some of the
newly developed processes are less controllable or robust and may have problems when production
scale-up is required.
The conclusions and recommendations of the Workshop stated that continued research and development
efforts are required in order to successfully develop and implement new environmentally compliant
surface treatments for aerospace applications.
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