Advanced Environmental Protection For Anodized Aluminum

Anodized aluminum has been around for a very long time and is known to be a very durable coating. But just like Superman anodized aluminum also has a weakness, Alkalinity. While aluminum and anodized aluminum is reasonably resistant to acids, alkalis (like the caustic sodium hydroxide) will chew through the film in a quick manner. This would not be a major issue until you think about the cleaners and worse yet, touch free car washes.  Touch free car washes use very harsh cleaners to remove any dirt, grease, or road grime from your car. Strong alkalis do a great job of that but also will hurt the beautiful finish of your anodized aluminum.

Top Anocoat is a final ultra thin top coat meant to be applied after sealing anodized aluminum. This product performs best with either a Nickel Acetate like our H-298 seal or a duplex seal like a Nickel Fluoride (Top Seal NiF) with a secondary hot water seal (Top Seal E110). Top Anocoat can provide up to 8x the alkaline resistance, and 5x the acid resistance. It is a very easy dip type application that will not alter the appearance of the part. It has also shown to increase abrasion resistance in the pencil hardness test.

The image below is a lab test that we conducted to show the effect of 0.1 M NaOH on sealed anodized aluminum (top) and treated anodized aluminum  (bottom) panels.

Below is an image of the acid resistance (1M Sulfuric acid) of both sealed anodized aluminum (top) and sealed anodized aluminum treated with TOP Anocoat.  As you can see there is very little change in the appearance of the film even beyond 72 hours

As mentioned above this product offers many additional benefits beyond what is listed above. These include increased scratch resistance, and finally some organic dyes find improved light fastness. If you are looking specifically for a light fastness improver please see our product Sunblock 88 or you can combine the two for best of both worlds (best light fastness and environmental protection)

This is a superior finish that can be used to treat sealed anodized aluminum to become a value added service you can provide to your customers. To request more information please contact us to get in touch with your local sales rep.