EcoWeave®, a highly durable tarp-like film that protects expensive, heavy raw metal materials and finished products against corrosion (photo: Cortec®)

Cortec® has introduced EcoWeave®, a highly durable tarp-like film that protects expensive, heavy raw metal materials and finished products against corrosion. After investing significant R&D time and effort into the project, Cortec® expanded its capabilities to encompass onsite melt coating of EcoWeave® at Cortec® Coated Products (CCP) in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. High tech Nordson melters and slot die eliminate the need for dryers, resulting in big energy savings. A 100% solids coating process eliminates solvent emissions. The new process also lets Cortec® provide more options to customers.

“By making it in-house we have more flexibility,” explains Robert Kean, Ph.D., Director of Cortec® Laboratories, who played an active role in R&D experimentation. In the past, Cortec® has relied on outsourcing to make a few stock sizes of EcoWeave®. This system works until users require custom details that are difficult to deliver with standard stock. With its new EcoWeave® coating capabilities, Cortec® will be better able to serve the specialized needs of users by providing custom sizes or filling smaller orders with a shorter lead time. As with other products and processes that follow Cortec’s ideology of vertical integration, making EcoWeave® in-house will also give Cortec® greater oversight of the quality of the product that rolls off the machine. This would not have been possible without the visionary involvement and persistence of Cortec® founder and CEO, Boris Miksic, the driving force to make this a successful product in-house.

Made from the same type of woven polyolefin film used to wrap lumber, EcoWeave® is extremely durable, yet lightweight and versatile. EcoWeave® offers a combination of tear resistance, durability, and VpCI® chemistry that work together to provide protection against harsh outdoor elements, physical damage, and corrosion.

Many possible uses for EcoWeave® include the following:

• Export packaging of expensive and larger equipment
• Steel sheeting and flat stock
• Steel coils
• Pallet shrouds
• Heavy equipment covers
• Heavy metal parts
• Equipment and product pouches

After compounding VpCI® masterbatch at its film extrusion plant in Cambridge, Minnesota, Cortec® ships the masterbatch to CCP, where it is melt coated onto polyolefin film. This gives EcoWeave® the proven vapor phase corrosion protection of Cortec® VpCI® film technology. Metal parts packaged in EcoWeave® receive continuous protection against salt environments, excessive humidity, condensation, moisture, aggressive industrial atmospheres, and dissimilar metal corrosion as the corrosion inhibitors vaporize and then condense on all metal surfaces inside the enclosed package. When unwrapped, the corrosion inhibitors evaporate, leaving the substrate corrosion-free and ready to use.

Tags: Cortec®