Sydney, Oct. 14 (xinhua) -- Australian researchers have developed a new anti-corrosion coating that can reduce the amount of algae and microorganisms attached to the hull by half compared with the existing coating, and alleviate the damage caused by biofouling on the hull.
Biofouling and corrosion may seriously affect ship navigation and fuel consumption. Alleviating biosilt could save the global shipping industry a lot of fuel costs each year.
More than 100 samples of the new material were soaked in seawater from 2015 to 2017 at three test sites in Australia, researchers from the swales university of science and technology, defense materials technology center and other institutions reported in the international journal bioadhesion and biofilm research. The results showed that compared with the current coating, the new coating film coating can reduce the degree of biodeposition by 50%.
Richard piola, of the centre for defence materials and technology in Australia, who was involved in the research, said the new paint could not be used for the entire hull at present because of the cost, but could already play an important role only in the ships main mechanical components. The application of the new coating will play an important role in improving the combat capability of naval ships and significantly reducing the maintenance cost of naval ships.