Further Information

Feronite Rusty metal primer is the absolute method of choice when steel or iron must be prevented from further corroding and it is not possible to clean the whole item to a bright (class 2.5) surface and apply a zinc rich coating.  It has been extensively used where sand blasting is not possible or desireable or the effort to acheive a surface suitable for a zinc rich coating is great.  It is completely acceptable (in fact it is desireable) to leave a coating of tightly adherent rust on the surface to be protected, only the loose crumbly, or dusty rust must be removed prior to application.

Feronite Rusty Metal Primer is frequently applied to objects which are difficult to sand blast such as vehicles, trailers, fences, iron railings, sheet metal, and the outside of storage tanks. It may also be used to restore and preserve iron-based items of historical importance.

Feronite Rusty Metal Primer works by excluding nearly all oxygen and moisture from the surface being protected. To prevent corrosion being initiated by moisture and oxygen that has penetrated through the barrier, it also contains a good rust inhibitor.  In addition to this, it converts the residual rust on the metal surface to a dense, impermable, tightly adherent ferric tannate layer which further protects the metal and inhibits ongoing rusting.

The primer component is a vinyl/acrylic copolymer emulsion. This emulsion is an excellent moisture and oxygen barrier, it displays excellent metal adhesion and good adhesion to a wide range of other substrates, has excellent durability, toughness and corrosion resistance.  It is a single pack coating.  It displays remarkably low moisture, oxygen and carbon dioxide permeability.  (It is necessary to use 2 pack epoxies to get lower permeability.) It has flame retardent properties.

Feronite Rusty metal primer incoporates Zinc Phosphate as a rust inhibiting pigment.   It reacts to form zinc ions and phosphate ions.  The phosphate ions phosphate the steel which makes the surface passive.  The zinc ions act as cathodic inhibitors, in a manner not dissimilar to how a zinc rich coating works.

The residual rust of the steel or iron surface is reacted by the tannin polyphenols in the Feronite Rusty Metal Primer to convert them to a chelated form of iron tannate.  This become tightly adherent to the steel and impermeable to moisture thus providing a further measure of protection to the surface.

Feronite Rusty Metal Primer Technical Data Sheet