DEMM Engineering & Manufacturing
Coating conference paints a positive picture
The 2014 Coatings & Corrosions show organised by Conferenz attracted close to 200 people, and according to its organisers, speakers received high praise from delegates.
Among those giving presentations at the Hamilton show was consultant Mike Boardman of LineTech. He helps survey the 26,000 power pylons up and down the country as a freelance consultant.
He says: “The show was well supported by members of the Australasian Corrosion Association, three past presidents of the association presented papers.
“I thought the conference was excellently run, the other interesting thing was that there was some ‘new blood’ there, so we weren’t all preaching to the converted.”
Nano-technology was also covered by University of Auckland professor Wei Gao who described how microscopic changes to the surface of metal can make it corrosion resistant.
“That was one end of the spectrum, but nano is only one of a number of weapons in the toolbox. I think it’s too early for nano technology to disrupt the current options,” says Mike.
“The cost of corrosion is between three and five per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) to Western society. Those numbers have been around for a long time, and a number of us have done studies on the cost of corrosion to various industry groups. Too many people think that corrosion happens and ‘oh well’. But it’s not quite true.”
Also at the show was Duane Baguley of Perry Metals, he says the show was a good opportunity to get a better understanding about the different types of corrosion protection on the market.
“From the galvanising industry’s perspective, it highlighted the need to educate the market in terms of the benefit of galvanising,” he says.
After Duane completed his presentation he got lots of questions that he says established that the art of galvanising is not a wellunderstood process.
“I think the overarching thing that came through was that while we all have different solutions, at the end of the day what we are trying to do is offer the best solutions for the customer, so their products are protected for as long as possible,” says Duane.
“We need to make sure that the people who are doing the specifying have a really good grasp of what they are trying to achieve. People also need to understand that there can be some serious downsides if they take shortcuts.”