Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

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Advice About Stainless Steel Coatings

I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I tried searching the archives for an answer to my question, but I get tons and tons of false positives having to do with how to coat stainless steel. I'm interested in finding out about stainless steel coatings (the one I'm looking at contains 316L stainless) that are intended to be applied over carbon steel, somewhat like "cold galvanizing."

My question is how effective these coatings are, and how difficult they are to apply. I'm interested in the stainless compounds because I need to protect mild steel that'll be exposed both to the elements (located outdoors) and to high temperatures (perhaps 1000 °F). Cold galvanizing -- and even hot dip galvanizing, for that matter -- won't tolerate the sorts of temperatures I'm dealing with. The stainless steel coatings are available with maximum temperatures up to 1200 °F, which should be enough -- but how much corrosion resistance do they provide? Can a hobbyist apply them easily in the back yard?

Matt Bower
Hobbyist - Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
July 13, 2008

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July 15, 2008

Hi, Matt. They are easy enough to apply since the stuff comes in spray cans like other paint. It's just that it includes particles of stainless steel instead of binders and colored pigments. My own feeling, though, is that they are for decorative effect because I don't understand any way in which their performance would be expected to be superior to more conventional paint. For high temperatures I believe there is high-temperature stainless steel paint [affil links] rated to 1200 degrees just as there are 1200 degree colored paints.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey