Tank-car owners spend a lot of money and time maintaining tank car assets to the highest quality standards, but are often let down by poor paint performance. Conventional paints are highly susceptible to UV damage causing the surface to oxidize and lose protective properties. Tank-car owners need to meet federal inspection requirements and cannot afford to spend money on paint systems that will not deliver performance over time.

In 2014 and early 2015, Industrial Solutions USA conducted two application demonstrations at GATX’s Hearne, Texas, facility using Nano‐Clear Industrial (NCI) coating manufactured by Nanovere Technologies headquartered in Michigan. NCI was spray-applied over two highly oxidized tank cars and over one newly painted tank car. These Nano‐Clear coated tank cars were then put back into service throughout the United States for a 12-month performance study.

The purpose of the trial was to provide a long‐term “best practices” solution to the epoxy paint oxidation issue on the tank cars. The black epoxy mastic currently used on the tank cars is continually exposed to high levels of UV rays and oxidizes rapidly. Highly oxidized epoxy paint coatings fall short in areas of abrasion, chemical and corrosion resistance.

Nano‐Clear Industrial coatings provide tank car owners with a tested and practical solution to fortify, restore and maintain paint systems on their expensive rail car assets to the highest protection level 10 year warranty.

UV tests conducted on NCI coating by two different OEMs confirmed no discoloration, no chalking or delamination from the substrate or between coats after 1,500 hours (the equivalent of 18 months) and 4,000 hours respectively.

NCI penetrates deep into the smallest pores of paint, enhancing the underlying color, dramatically improving gloss while also improving UV, abrasion, corrosion and chemical resistance. Nano‐Clear eliminates the need to prematurely re‐paint, saving millions of dollars in maintenance costs and thousands of pounds of VOCs.