Fluorolast Coatings
 Fluorolast Coatings
LeBaron
The Challenge

The LeBaron Foundry (an iron castings manufacturer in Brockton, Massachusetts) needed help to solve a corrosion problem inside their plant's bag houses.
The facility holds four bag house units that receive exhaust fumes from the plant's smelting furnace. Fly ash is removed by hundreds of tubular bags hanging inside the units. The interior of these steel compartments experiences highly changing temperatures - from -20° to over 300° F. This drastic changing of temperatures, referred to as "thermal cycling," and sulfuric acid corrosion cause protective coatings to crack and peel. When these coatings fail, rust and corrosion damage eventually destroy the vessel. Repairs on the bag house units are extremely costly and replacement is very expensive

LeBaron Foundry bag house units

Four bag house units located at LeBaron Foundry, Brockton, Massachusetts

In addition, the interior of the unit couldn't handle the high temperatures or acid concentration. This caused the coating to delaminate from the substrate, contributing to serious corrosion damage. There were many areas of widespread rust and corrosion between hanging bags and around the exhaust outlet. All of the corrosion and acid damage made it necessary to recoat each year, proving that the existing treatments simply were not solving the problem.
The Solution

After trying just about everything to stop the sulfuric acid corrosion in the plant's bag houses, LeBaron Foundry decided to try Fluorolast WB. One unit was coated with Fluorolast and one unit was coated with a competitive coating. A year later, the Fluorolast unit was in great condition -- showing absolutely no signs of corrosion -- plus there wasn't any discoloration. The other coating was cracking and peeling, and the unit needed to be re-coated.

Fluorolast was the perfect solution to LeBaron Foundry's quest for a material that has chemical resistance ability as well as the ability to withstand thermal shock and survive even the harshest of environments. The test between Fluorolast and the other coating proved Fluorolast's outstanding durability: it stayed free of cracks, corrosion and peeling. Tom Foley, Plant Engineer for LeBaron Foundry, said, "we may expect this coating to last several more years."

Fluorolast coating enabled LeBaron Foundry to focus more on production and profitability instead of upkeep and maintenance. Recommended strongly by LeBaron, Fluorolast is an effective solution for the toughest challenges.