Fluoropolymer Coatings For Chemical Processing

TEFLON® Coatings for the Chemical Processing Industry

TEFLON® coatings, because of their excellent chemical resistance, are used in numerous applications by the chemical processing industry. TEFLON® FEP coatings, TEFLON® PFA coatings, and TEFZEL® ETFE coatings serve as linings in pumps, pipe, tanks, valves, agitators, and a variety of vessels and containers. TEFLON® coatings and TEFLON® linings are chemically inert and solvent resistant to virtually all chemicals except molten alkali metals, fluorine at elevated temperatures, and certain complex halogenated compounds at elevated temperatures and pressures.

Chemical and corrosion resistance are not the only properties that are important in CPI applications. Dry lubrication may be required in certain applications.

A maintenance program for a series of water cooled reactor banks requires that hundreds of fasteners be broken and retorqued every three months. It is dry lube properties along with its corrosion resistance that make TEFLON®-S coating the ideal coating to replace stainless steel in this application. The TEFLON®-S coatings represents an initial cost saving by replacing the expensive stainless steel fasteners with economical steel fasteners coated with TEFLON®-S and an ongoing savings by drastically reducing the labor component involved in the periodic maintenance.

Climate Change Simulation Chambers

To study the effects of global warming and smog, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health use a simulation chamber (sometimes known as smog chambers). To control costs, the chambers are manufactured from economical aluminum panels, rather than expensive stainless steel or other exotic metals, and coated with TEFLON® PFA powder to create a controlled environment in which to perform research. The harsh acids in the simulated smog environment would quickly eat away the aluminum panels but the TEFLON® PFA coating remains unaffected after years of continuous exposure. Engineers at American Durafilm® have helped dozens of researches from all over the globe design and produce simulation chambers ranging from small desktop enclosures to huge chambers that are a "walk in" laboratory.

Examples of TEFLON® coatings used in Chemical Processing Applications include: