Press Releases
MesoCoat Hits Milestone - Cladding Inside Diameter of Pipe
March 15, 2012
MIAMI, FLORIDA -- Abakan Inc. (OTCQB "ABKI") ("Abakan") is pleased to announce that its subsidiary MesoCoat Inc., has successfully completed a major milestone by cladding the inside diameter of steel pipe with corrosion and wear resistant alloys and expects to complete qualification with several oil majors within the next 6 months.
Metal cladding for wear and corrosion protection is a $3.8 billion global market of which approximately 50% is for coating steel pipes which are used in the oil and gas, oil sands, mining and processing industries. The cladding of steel pipe is expected to double over the next four years because almost all of the new oil and gas fields being developed today are highly corrosive. Metallurgical cladding is considered to be the finest form of cladding but currently it is a slow process with long lead times and high cost, which have held back wider adoption. MesoCoat’s focus has always been to search for critical material science and surface engineering problems, then provide disruptive solutions that are game-changing and have the potential to redefine industry standards. CermaClad™ does exactly that. MesoCoat’s ‘CermaClad™ high speed, large area metallurgical cladding technology has routinely been defined by their partners and potential customers as an ‘Impact Technology’ – you see it work and you instantaneously realize its potential. Andrew Sherman, MesoCoat’s CEO, stated: “We think CermaClad™ will replace weld overlay and laser cladding as the number one choice for metallurgical cladding and it will provide an alternative to mechanically clad lined pipe, which is widely used in the industry, by providing a faster, better and cheaper metallurgical cladding solution.”
CermaClad™ is 20-80X faster, provides a magnitude improvement in surface properties and is cheaper than competing weld overlay and laser cladding technologies. CermaClad™ technology has been developed and matured for over a decade at one of the finest global R&D; institutions, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and for the past 3 years, MesoCoat has built its expertise in process control, metallurgy, material science, scalability and dramatically reducing the size of the cladding system; today, the lamp head can go inside pipes with a 7.5 inch internal diameter. Recently completed Det Norske Veritas (DNV) tests on CermaCladTM CRA products have confirmed 6X better corrosion protection, strong metallurgical bond, outstanding microstructure, and minimal dilution or stirring of the substrate.
Within six months MesoCoat expects to exceed the American Petroleum Institute (API) and DNV acceptance criteria for clad pipes allowing us to become a qualified vendor for some of the largest oil and gas, oil sands, mining, heavy equipment and engineering management companies across the globe. MesoCoat also expects to finish construction of their new manufacturing facility in Euclid, Ohio during the second quarter of this year, and once operational, it will be one of the top five metallurgical clad pipe manufacturing facilities across the globe with approximate annual production capacity of 30 km’s of clad pipe. One MesoCoat clad pipe manufacturing facility with four lines is projected to produce over 120 kms of 8 inch clad pipe, which will cost significantly less than 10-15 full-scale weld overlay or laser cladding facilities that it would take to achieve similar production capacity.
About Abakan Inc.
Abakan is a Miami-based, publicly traded company that invests in companies that have developed transformational technologies on the cusp of commercial acceptance. In addition to supporting MesoCoat’s development, Abakan is involved in Powdermet’s commercialization of its metal formulations and advanced energy management solutions. Both MesoCoat and Powdermet have received numerous industry awards (including R&D; 100 awards and National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Innovation Program awards) and numerous government grants.
Forward-Looking Statements:
A number of statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties including technological obsolescence, market acceptance of future products, competitive market conditions, and the sufficiency of capital resources. The actual results Abakan may achieve could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. Abakan encourages the public to read the information provided here in conjunction with its most recent filings on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Abakan’s public filings may be viewed at www.sec.gov.
Abakan Inc.
Robert Miller, Chief Executive Officer
Phone: +1-786-206-5368
Email: [email protected]
www.abakaninc.com