Since the end of 2013, GEOMET 321 has been used by SIEMENS WIND POWER A/S on fasteners of wind turbine blades. For this application, SIEMENS WIND POWER A/S requires that the coating must be able to exist in a C5-H environment (according to ISO-12944) without corrosion of the substrate material even after a 1440 hours salt spray test. For this reason, GEOMET 321 is being applied with a thickness of 15 microns.
At the same time, GE POWER & WATER (GENERAL ELECTRIC division in charge of the construction of wind power plants) has approved the zinc flake systems GEOMET and GEOBLACK in its latest standard P14A-AL-0218. Specific requirements such as 1000 hours salt spray resistance (according to ASTM-B117 or ISO-9227) could be met and mechanical damage tests were convincing.
In addition to these new standards, the systems GEOMET 321 + PLUS® VLh on the one hand and GEOMET® 500 + PLUS® XL on the other, have been certified by the institute GERMANISCHER LLOYD regarding the corrosion protection of fasteners in oceanic and offshore atmosphere with high salinity levels (C5-M high according to ISO-12944). This means a salt spray resistance of 1440 up to 2016 hours without appearance of red rust.
NOF METAL COATINGS Group is the first one that has been certified by two different institutes which confirm the potential of low thickness corrosion protection for offshore installations.
Aside from the recent certificates by GERMANISCHER LLOYD, the FRENCH CORROSION INSTITUTE had already certified the technologies GEOMET and DACROMET in 2010 and proved their ability to pass the ISO Norm 20340 standard (performance requirements regarding coating systems for the protection of offshore plants and associated facilities), which corresponds to level C5-M (according to ISO-12944).
It has to be mentioned that the tests, according to the ISO-20340 standard, include 25 cycles of one week each, with three days of UV exposure with condensation, three days of salt spray tests and one day of low temperature exposure (-20°C).
