Bespoke coating technology to prevent rust and maintain industrial productivity

Zircotec’s expertise in developing specialist coatings extends to numerous sectors, including industry. When Paragon ID’s manufacturing site in Hull needed to protect the mixing vessel inside its attritor machine from rust, it turned to Zircotec to develop a hard-wearing, protective coating.

Paragon ID, a global leader in the delivery of identification solutions for public transport, track and trace, payment and identity, manufactures around 438 million magnetic strip train tickets for the Rail Delivery Group each year and recently switched from a solvent-based production process to a water-based solution to increase its commitment to sustainability.

The company’s 300kg attritor machine is used to mix the chemical components of the magnetic strip. As a machine that can be used up to 16 hours every day, the threat of rust building up between production cycles has the potential to compromise product quality.

Callum Jackson, Paragon ID’s HMI Product Manager, said: “Obviously, water can cause rust to form on metal surfaces and that has the potential to scratch and damage the paper tickets we produce. We needed a suitable coating that could be applied to the inside of the mixing drum and prevent rust from forming. We worked with Zircotec and they delivered exactly what we needed.”

Zircotec’s surface coating engineers developed a specialist alumina oxide coating that was expertly applied to the inside of the attritor’s steel drum at Zircotec’s headquarters in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

“The Zircotec coating has given us the protection we need for our machine and has completely eliminated the chance of rust forming,” Callum added. “We haven’t experienced any downtime due to having to clean unwanted rust away, we haven’t needed to perform any unscheduled maintenance, and we’ve managed to keep producing a first-class product for our customers. Working with Zircotec has been a great fit for Paragon ID.”

Dominic Graham, Zircotec’s Engineering Director, said: “Our work with Paragon ID is another illustration of how versatile our coatings technology is across various applications and use cases. Whether the requirement is for a thermal barrier, electrical insulation, wear resistance, an abradable surface, cermets, or for use on metal, alloys or carbon fibre, we have the in-house expertise to develop the high-performance solution customers need.”

To discover more about Zircotec’s industrial coating capability, visit: www.zircotec.com/solutions/specialist-coatings