By Sharon Spielman
The industry has been waiting for a
chemical agent resistant powder
topcoat that meets the military
specification requirements set
forth in MIL-PRF-32348. So far,
one independent coating maker
has achieved success and
others are not far behind.
Up until the end of 2010, Chemical
Agent Resistant Coatings
(CARCs) had only been available
in liquid form. CARC materials are
maintained and monitored by the
U.S. government, and only manufacturers
who meet all the requirements
of the specifications for CARC are
authorized to sell these products for
military use.
True CARC camouflage is a highly
sophisticated, multi-functional coating
capable of camouflaging and protecting
at a much higher level. It is used
on all tactical assets for the Marine
Corps and Army, which includes aviation,
land vehicles and related support
equipment. CARC is a critical element
in efforts to increase troop survivability
on the battlefield.
In addition to their visual properties
and characteristics, CARC
prevents detection from infrared measures
and provides protection against
chemical and biological agents.
When a tactical vehicle is exposed to
chemical or biological agents, it must
be able to be decontaminated. CARC
provides this protection before and
after decontamination.
For CARC to maintain its chemical
agent resistance and signature
reduction qualities, it must be able
to withstand severe wear-intensive
environments.
According to the Army Research
Lab (ARL), two of the most common
measurements used in determining
impact on the environment, which
are also tied to soldier safety during
the application process, are volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) and volatile
organic emissions (VOEs).
Because the well-being of soldiers
and the planet continues to be a concern,
industry as a whole carries on
its search for more environmentally
friendly materials, applications and
processes—and this is where powder
coatings come in.
In the latter part of 2010, the ARL
released the performance spec for
MIL-PRF-32348. Subsequently, powder
coatings have been approved to
be used as a primer with a CARC topcoat.
All that was missing, then, was
the CARC topcoat in powder form.
The Department of Defense’s
(DOD) Strategic Environmental
Research and Development Program
(SERDP) funded two coating
makers—first, Sherwin-Williams in
June 2012, and then PPG in January
2013—to research and develop a
topcoat that meets the CARC spec.
Both companies have made headway
and are on track with their timelines
for completion, but an independent
coatings maker, Milwaukee-based
Hentzen Coatings Inc., was able to
meet the MIL-PRF-32348 specification
first.
Self-financed R&D Paid Off
Hentzen developed the CARC
Powder Top Coat (CPTC) independent
of all other manufacturers’
government funded programs. “While
[other leading coating manufacturers]
received approximately $1.5
million each in funding over the past
two years, Hentzen’s CPTC used
only internal technical and financial
resources, and Hentzen has filed for
U.S. patent protection,” Andy Daly,
Powder Coatings
RD&I
Manager at
Hentzen, told Powder Coated Tough.
“Hentzen has typically completed all
of its CARC development projects in
the past independently as
well,” he
adds.
Of course, Hentzen had
to meet
the military specification requirements
set forth in MIL-PRF 32348. “While
there are several parameters that have
to be met, including adhesion, flexibility
and recoatability, the major hurdles
in qualification were achieving a
very low gloss coating (< 1.6 @ 60 &
< 4.0 @ 85) and passing the chemical
agent resistance requirements. The
low gloss is a major component of the
U.S. Army’s visual camouflage,”
Daly explains. Again, chemical agent
resistance is the basis of the CARC
program. Tested at an independent
lab, the coating is checked to ensure
that it can be decontaminated to safe
levels in the event it comes in contact
with chemical agents of war. “Hentzen’s
technical team developed an
innovative powder chemistry which
allowed us to overcome both of these
challenges,” Daly says.
Hentzen had been working on its
CARC powder topcoat prior to the
specification being released. “When
the specification narrowed the scope
of the project, Hentzen was able to
focus its efforts on those particular
requirements,” Daly explains. “Many
of the technical advances which had
been identified during the earlier
efforts were incorporated into the final
qualified product.”
As a smaller, private company,
Hentzen remains highly mobile and
focused on outside-the-box innovations,
according to John Mort, Defense
Products Sales Manager. “This is a
long-term oriented company, focused
on responsiveness to its customers,”
he says. When asked how offering the
CARC powder topcoats will benefit its
customers in the long run, Mort replied,
“As the largest provider of U.S.
Army coatings in the world, Hentzen
will use this product to further allow
us to provide the most complete line
of CARC products. It is our goal to
provide coatings solutions for all of
our customers. We are now able to
provide CARC powder top coat to a
totally new customer base that could
not produce or compete in the military
market until now. We think the
complete powder CARC system offers
some advantages to many customers,
and we intend to fully support the
growth of the powder CARC
applicators.”
There are a number of customers
that have been waiting for this breakthrough
technology, Mort told Powder
Coated Tough. For instance, General
Dynamics, a major prime defense
contractor has a dedicated powder
facility and will be implementing the
CARC powder top coat, he says. The
U.S. Marine Corps base in Albany,
Ga., has been spraying powder for
over 10 years and will now be able
to add CARC capabilities to this line,
he adds. Several subcontractors have
also been waiting to put powder lines
to work for DOD-related projects, he
explains. “Tucker Industrial in York,
Pa., and Militex Coatings in London,
Ont.,—both major suppliers to prime
defense contractors—are planning
to commit resources to develop this
innovative product line,” says Mort.
How They Got Here
Hentzen’s technical leadership in
CARC development began in the early
1980s with the development of the first
CARC top coat systems. “The mastery
of the liquid CARC properties in our
liquid labs (as exhibited in the sidebar on
page 31), allowed a technical exchange
with the powder development group.
The basis for many of the CARC powder
innovations came from the liquid group’s
fundamental understanding of the CARC
system,” Daly explains.
Hentzen is in its ninetieth year of
business. When asked how the company
has managed to do so well over the
years, Mort said, “Hentzen has grown
and flourished through 90 years because
the owners sincerely believe that their
first priority is to meet the needs of their
customers. As a private company, Hentzen
is able to maintain a customer-first
mentality, and not be driven by the need
to achieve a particular short-term financial
result. Hentzen’s ownership priority
is to remain an independent company,
and they are committed to continuing
to be a leader in technical innovation,
backed by strong technical competence
in field sales and service, as the path to
continuing to grow.
Sharon Spielman is editor of Powder
Coated Tough magazine. She can be
reached at 847-302-2648 or via email at
sspielman@powdercoating.org.
