An Ohio technology start-up fund, The Innovation Fund, has awarded Tesla NanoCoatings of Massillon, Ohio a $100,000 grant to help the new company develop and manufacture its line of corrosion control coatings. It is the third time this year the company has been honored for its technology.
Tesla NanoCoatings provides corrosion control coatings with fullerene carbon nanotubecathodic protection of metal to the aerospace/military, petrochemical, transportation, marine and industrial markets.
Earlier this year, the editors of R&D Magazine named Tesla NanoCoatings a recipient of its R&D 100 Award as one of the most technically significant products in 2011. NorTech, in partnership with Crain's Cleveland Business, announced Tesla Nanocoatings Ltd. as winner of its 2012 NorTech Innovation Award.
Additionally, The U.S. Army identified Tesla’s corrosion technology as a “Technical Solution.”
“Corrosion is a major problem is US industry today. The U.S. Government Accounting Office estimates that corrosion costs the U.S. $400 billion a year," said Todd Hawkins, managing director and founder of Tesla.
“We are proud to be on the front lines in the battle against this problem, and to be honored three times already in our first year of operation,” said Hawkins.
“The U.S. market for corrosion-control coatings is about $50 billion a year, and the industry has not seen any groundbreaking new technologies in more than 50 years. We aim to be the pacesetter in this market, offering the toughest, most resilient and best corrosion resistant coatings ever developed,” he said.
“Tesla has improved on the traditional coating system that the U.S. military relies on to protect many of its steel structures,” said Susan Drozdz, a chemist with U.S. Army ERDC CERL and a NACE International-certified Level 3 Coating Inspector.
“The traditional system is a good coating system, but here was an opportunity, with this nanocoating, to improve the limited adhesion, flexibility, and impact resistance of the standard system. Based on our field demonstrations, the Tesla system will most likely improve coating’s performance and service life,” she said.
Tesla NanoCoatings, LTD is a technology company based in Massillon, Ohio with a laboratory at Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio. The company is over a year old with one product currently—Teslan—a highly effective corrosion control coating for structural steel utilizing carbon nanotubes, which self-assemble into rope structures, making them highly conductive, tough and flexible. Teslan was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL), Champaign, Ill.
