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Marine Coatings Get R&D Funding Boost
Several projects aimed at improving shipyard coatings and inspection processes will get a $430,000 boost in funding from the National Shipbuilding Research Program.
On Oct. 16, the NSRP Executive Control Board announced 19 new research and development projects as part of its program's core mission to reduce costs associated with Navy shipbuilding and repair. The projects total about $2.5 million and will be executed through NSRP.
The board is the governing body of NSRP and consists of a senior management representative for each member shipyard.
Coatings, Surface Prep Projects
Four of the projects aim to improve coatings and surface preparation activities for ship building, repair and inspection processes.
Under the Risk Management category, the project "Metals in Paint Analysis Using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)" was awarded $103,000. The project, developed by Golder Associates, aims to develop a functional method to measure lead, chromium and cadmium levels used in maritime paint during shipbuilding and repair activities.
The measurements would be done using an onsite, real-time sampling method, instead of the current practice of sending samples to a laboratory.
One of three projects in the Surface Prep & Coatings category, "Cost Savings Comparison in Application of Polysiloxane vs. Silicone Alkyd Topcoats" will compare polysiloxane coating systems to current new construction specifications for cost effectiveness and durability in an extended shipyard industrial environment.
The project was awarded $140,000 and is a joint effort by Bath Iron Works; Marinette Marine, Elzly Technology; PPG; International Paint; and Sherwin-Williams.
Also under the Surface Prep & Coatings category, "Reducing Inspection Costs Using the Latest Digital Inspection Tools" was awarded $37,000, and "Robust Functional Paperless Paint Phase II, Future State Implementation" received $150,000.
The "Reducing Inspection Costs" project will evaluate efficiencies of each method and calculate cost savings with a goal of reducing inspection time, paperwork generation time and audit time, as well as reducing or eliminating erroneous readings and non-conformances due to user error and transcription errors.
The project is being developed by Elcometer; Newport News Shipbuilding; BAE Systems—Southeast Shipyards; Ingalls Shipbuilding; NASSCO—Earl Industries; and NAVSEA 05P.
A joint effort by BAE Systems; Marinette Marine; TruQC; and Elzly Technologies, the "Robust Functional Paperless Paint" project aims to update the existing paint software system that has been designed to populate the Navy Standard Item 009-32 appendices.
Projects Awarded
The remaining projects and their awards are:
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Nineteen projects will receive a combined $2.5 million from NSRP to research new ways to reduce costs associated with Navy shipbuilding and repair. |
Electrical Technologies
Environmental
Information Technologies
Planning, Production Processes & Facilities
Risk Management
Ship Design & Material Technologies
Ship Warfare Systems Integration
Welding Technology
A portfolio of all of NSRP's ongoing and completed projects can be found here.
About NSRP
Co-funded by the U.S. shipbuilding industry and the U.S. Navy, NSRP is a collaboration of U.S. shipyards working together to reduce the cost of building, operating and repairing Navy ships by improving productivity and quality through advanced technology and processes.
