Madison Chemical offers a unique alternative when coating weathering steel (the red structural steel often known by the trade mark “Corten”).

Historically, this type of steel must be aggressively blasted in order for coatings to adhere properly.  This is no longer necessary.  When Madison protective coating researchers were developing its GalvaClad products as the next family of coatings for galvanized structures, it was discovered that the same new coating product gives equally outstanding results on weathering steel.  A light acid etch will give performance comparable to a white metal blast, for example adhesion well over 2,000 p.s.i., and as high as 4,000 p.s.i.  The system is suitable for heavy duty and severe service, not just routine atmospheric exposure.

The one step acid etch provides a far more uniform and predictable result than blasting (with its many variables) ad a dramatically lower cost.

If you prefer to blast, GalvaClad is still the product of choice.  All other things being equal, it will increase adhesion by 50% or more, especially where the blasting equipment, media and other factors are not optimal or where the customer simply wants to drive up quality while driving down the cost and severity of the blast.

Think then of GalvaClad in two ways, as a way of cutting back on the blast and as a way of eliminating it altogether.

The GalvaClad product line includes a plural component high build aromatic corrosion coating, a similar format of aliphatic (colour stable) coating and a Mix-and-Apply paint-like liquid zinc product.  The 2 plural component systems are typically used as one-coat systems.  GalvaClad Liquid Zinc can be used on its own or top-coated with a Mix-and-Apply finish coating such as AcrylaThane, or a precatalyzed coating such as TufSheen PreCatalyzed.