Ship Owners Cry ‘No Foul’ with LuminOre Coatings
The new composite metal application offered by LuminOre Industrial & Marine Coatings Inc. of Ventura, Calif., is generating excitement for boat owners around the world. In fact, LuminOre marine coatings just might be the marine industry’s anti-foulant solution.
Ventura, Calif. (PRWEB) July 16, 2005 -- As West Coast water quality
authorities adopt the first enforceable effort to curb cuprous oxide from
leaching into marine waters from paints used on boat hulls, the marine industry
is quickly searching for new solutions to the age-old mariner’s dilemma of
marine fouling. Excitement over a new composite metal application offered by
LuminOre Industrial & Marine Coatings Inc. of Ventura, Calif., indicates it
could be the marine industry’s anti-foulant solution.
LuminOre Industrial
and Marine Coatings was founded to develop and market novel industrial and
marine coatings based on various metals, including copper, and a patented
cold-spray application process — licensed through LuminOre Inc. of Vista, Calif.
— bringing cutting-edge, molecular technology to the issue of marine fouling.
One of the primary factors making LuminOre’s patented process unique is that the
copper metal is not held in suspension, but is instead a chemical reaction
between the metal molecules and the polymer binder that actually creates a true
composite metal.
"We’re committed to developing sophisticated coatings
that are more effective and more environmentally friendly than currently
available marine applications," explains Terry Gould, president of LuminOre
Industrial & Marine Coatings Inc., an official licensee of the patented
LuminOre process. "LuminOre’s patented cold-sprayable process allows a thin
layer of metal to be applied over any substrate, in virtually any configuration
or design. Our coatings look, feel and act like hot-cast metal, yet no heat is
needed in application. From foam to fiberglass or plaster to paper, the LuminOre
process adheres to most any surface other than skin and water. Once cured, the
product has many of the characteristics of a cast metal, including texture,
luster and heat conductivity, and it’s also non-galvanic."
As an
anti-foulant, LuminOre coatings offer very low toxicity to the environment and
to non-target organisms and are low maintenance and, therefore, low cost over
the life of the product. Research indicates that the LuminOre product has
prevented the growth of invertebrates on LuminOre-coated surfaces and that the
product is efficacious against a wide variety of salt and fresh water species.
Testing has also indicated LuminOre to be effective for greater than four years
in an aggressive fresh water environment, and effective for greater than eight
years in an aggressive fouling salt water environment with little or no
maintenance.
Copper is a natural anti-foulant and has been used on the
hulls of ships for hundreds of years, ever since the British Admiralty initiated
the use of copper sheets nailed to wooden ships starting with the frigate Alarm
in 1761. But, unlike the days of old when ships’ hulls were clad with copper
sheeting using nails as fasteners, the patented cold-spray LuminOre coating can
be directly applied as a retro-fit or during the molding process when building
the boat. LuminOre marine materials can be used on fiberglass and wood as well
as steel and aluminum because there is no galvanic reaction.
According to
Gould, LuminOre’s benefits have been demonstrated with in-the-field research.
Testing over the past several years, he explains, has shown LuminOre to be an
excellent deterrent to marine organisms attaching themselves to hulls or
structures beneath the water line. In the Great Lakes, for example, marine
fouling from zebra mussels is an annual multi-billion dollar
problem.
"We’ve had test metal plates coated with LuminOre in an active
zebra mussel bed for five years which have remained free of any hard growth and
not a single footprint of zebra attachment has been recorded," explains Gould.
LuminOre’s composite metals are applied using conventional HVLP or
plural component spray equipment, and are available in aluminum, brass, bronze,
copper, iron, nickel-silver, stainless steel, X-metal and Z3. The end result is
a protective coating that withstands the harshest of environments, is
non-conductive of electricity and anti-corrosive. From such diverse applications
as metal artistry in Las Vegas to protective coatings in harsh marine
environments, the innovative breakthrough of LuminOre’s cold-metalizing process
is actually changing the way the world works with metal.
All toxicology
tests have been conducted and EPA submission is still underway for LuminOre
copper product and, therefore, not yet available for distribution in the United
States. For more information on LuminOre Industrial & Marine Coatings or
LuminOre products, visit www.luminoreprotectivecoatings.com or contact Terry Gould at
805.654.9351.
Located in Ventura, Calif., LuminOre® Industrial &
Marine Coatings Inc. is a licensee of LuminOre Inc., specialists in composite
metals. LuminOre’s patented, cold-metalizing process seamlessly applies to
almost any surface, giving the look of solid metal casting without the weight
and expense. In addition, the extremely versatile LuminOre applications provide
long-term protection for chemical tanks, potable water storage, industrial
facilities and in harsh marine environments. For more information on LuminOre
protective coatings and metallic finishes, call Terry Gould at 805.654.9351 or
visit luminoreprotectivecoatings.com.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/7/prweb262053.htm