Hull Coating to Cut Maintenance Costs

Monday, March 24, 2008

Xiom Corp., a Long Island, NY-based company that manufactures polymer powder spray systems, polymer coatings, and polymer/ceramic one-step coatings developed a high performance, environmentally safe, self-cleaning, marine vessel hull protective coating.
Xiom's "stay-clean" coating for both steel and fiberglass boat bottoms significantly reduces maintenance costs and fuel consumption caused by marine growth. The polymer/ceramic-based coating contains no TBT (tributyl tin) or VOCs (volatile organic chemicals), and does not ablate or wear away. Xiom Corp's new ship and boat bottom protective coating is a patent-pending powder coating. The coating has a network of evenly dispersed active copper oxide and silver ions in a polymer matrix that is fully melted when applied with Xiom's proprietary thermal spray process. The polymer matrix serves to hold the copper oxide in place for years. Even if there should be some break or "tear" in the coating, there is a nylon modified fuse bond epoxy between the hull and coating, maintaining integrity.
With Xiom's coating, the active ingredients are always strongly held and available in the coating, and the coating ablates at less than 1/10 the ablation rate of paints.
Xiom's boat and ship bottom protective coating has micro channels in the surface. These micro- channels serve to increase the effective surface area of exposed copper. Visualize microscopic plastic fists with the fingers tightly holding the copper oxide. Water swirls around the fist and between the fingers, touching copper at many points, but the fist never releases its grip on the copper.
According to Andrew Mazzone, president of Xiom Corp.,"Copper has been used to protect boat coatings for centuries. The secret was to develop a matrix that would hold the copper and silver oxides in place without them quickly wearing away. Testing at world famous Florida Institute of Technology confirms our results."
For more information, Email
lcomac@xiom-corp.com