Corrosion is by far one of the most damaging and costly natural phenomena mankind faces across the globe, significantly impacting the aerospace, automotive, construction and electronic industries year after year. While there are many different methods to protecting metals from corrosion, chromate treatment has been one of the most well-established, inexpensive methods used across the globe over the past several decades. Although the performance, efficiency and affordability of chromate treatment has benefited the corrosion protection industry for years now, governmental regulations and public awareness of the hazards associated with chromate treatment has never been higher.
Since 2013, hexavalent chromium has been classified as a carcinogen and mutagen by the European Union. Furthermore, Europe’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization & Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations have restricted the use of hexavalent chromium in almost every industry across Europe. Although the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has approved some Authorization Applications covering the use of hexavalent chromium in aerospace metal pretreatments and aerospace coatings, all these decisions have not yet been approved by the European Commission. Due to potentially serious consequences of corrosion-related structural failure and the long qualification periods required for new aerospace-related products, the topic of environmentally friendly corrosion protection alternatives has been a major interest to manufacturers, governments and raw material suppliers of the aerospace industry over the past several years.