Divers repair damaged areas on Navy ship hulls underwater because dry-docking is impractical. Current coatings disintegrate and break away from the paintbrush and application tool, decreasing transfer efficiency and clouding the water, causing difficulties completing the job correctly. In addition, the materials released into the water are toxic to divers and to marine life.  New coating formulations are needed.

Foster-Miller developed and demonstrated an environmentally friendly epoxy repair coating that can be effectively applied underwater. Foster-Miller's formulation, ADHER, used epoxies, hydrophobic additives and water insoluble curing agents to make an adherent, durable resin that is easy to apply.  In addition to underwater application, ADHER is compatible with current epoxy coatings used to paint ship hulls in dry-dock, and can be applied as a patch over existing coating. 

We are now refining this formulation to improve its performance and application properties; and improving the reliability of the underwater applicator tool. Results to date indicate exceptional performance of the ADHER formulation in an accelerated test for corrosion resistance of metals, called the "salt fog test." This finding shows the ADHER patch protects metal surfaces from rust without the use of additional corrosion inhibitors in the formulation.

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