The Business Behind The CHEMON Name Change and New Company Direction

This Month's issue of Product Finishing Magazine, the go to source publication for all things Surface Technology, looks at the business behind the CHEMEON Surface Technology name change from METALAST and the new ownership's vision, values and global campaign for the removal of hexavalent chrome.  Read the full article at PFOnline (here)

In 2013, Madylon and Dean Meiling became owners of Metalast, a Nevada-based supplier of chemistries for the plating industry. They have since changed the name to Chemeon Surface Technology. Madylon, the president and CEO, is a Ph.D. with more than 15 years of experience as a corporate consultant and executive coach, specializing in leadership development. Dean retired as managing director of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), a fixed income investment management company with $1.2 trillion in third-party assets under management.

PF: Neither of you have a background in electroplating or finishing. What led you to get into the business?

MM: We strongly believed in the licensed, patented and proprietary chemistries, scientists, and potential for success of Metalast LLC and were investors in the company. Sadly, the founder squandered other people’s money and eventually led the company to insolvency. In April 2013, a court-appointed Receiver reported that approximately 1,000 members of the LLC had contributed more than $95 million, the accumulated losses exceeded  $119 million, and the accounts payable to its vendors, landlord, suppliers, and employees totaled nearly $1 million. On November 4, 2013, the Court approved a sale of all Metalast LLC assets to us, as the secured creditor. Although we entered this industry with limited experience in surface technology, we are successful entrepreneurs and leaders in business, and were confident that the chemical experience of the company’s scientists, sales team, and operations team, combined with their expertise and passion for its products and technical services, would enable us to expand and excel. Included in the sale was exclusive ownership of all Metalast company history and trade secrets, including chemistries, products, services, contacts, customer and distributor information, licenses, contracts, copyrights, product marks, and logos.  We particularly embraced our trademarked chemistries and changed our name to ChemeonSurface Technology to eliminate confusion between the company’s new leadership and values, and the former management.

PF: Your company says it will focus on environmentally responsible corrosion resistant coatings. Is this born from a professional or personal emphasis? 

DM: We have always supported organizations that are focused on improving the environment such as The Nature Conservancy and The Tahoe Fund. Chemeon Surface Technology has a choice in what we develop and provide to the public, and as a specialty chemical company, our vision is to be a leader in environmentally responsible coatings and surface technologies, committed to research, development, customer service and solutions. We are currently focused on leading a significant campaign to remove carcinogenic hexavalent chromates from the environment and replace them with our Trivalent Chrome and Zero Chrome solutions. This year, we are planning to present the first Chemeon CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Award to a company that is replacing hexavalent chrome in all of its US plants with Chemeon TCP-HF.

PF: What is the plan for expanding your global operations to new markets?

MM: Our plan for expansion is focused on Chemeon values for integrity, transparency, collaboration, and innovation. As a WOSB, we are investing resources in critical research and development to continuously provide cutting edge technologies to the surface engineering industry.  Our technical center has discovered new markets for existing products, as well developing new chemistries. We are currently working on improved no-chrome solutions as well as other needed chemistries for magnesium, zinc nickel, cadmium and more. Read more (here)

and here https://chemeon.com/p/the-companys-name-change/ 

2014 SERDP Project-of-the-Year Award for Weapons Systems and Platforms

Hazardous solvents and cadmium plating for the maintenance and overhaul of military weapons systems have been primary environmental concerns of the DoD for many years. Both of these areas have a common obstacle for implementation of any potential alternative—hydrogen embrittlement, which can lead to fracturing of high strength steel. 

High strength materials are sensitive to hydrogen embrittlement, and the source of the hydrogen can be the fabrication process, maintenance practice, or the natural corrosion cycle. Historically, the various aerospace defense contractors have each tested hydrogen embrittlement in their own manner, which has led to a national standard incorporating many approved test geometries and somewhat ambiguous procedures. The standard method is a pass/fail test, and the ambiguous procedures lead to conflicting test results and perceived risk and roadblocks to implementation of proposed alternative chemicals and coatings. 

In this SERDP-funded project, Mr. Scott Grendahl of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and his team used a three-phase design of experiments approach to investigate the hydrogen re-embrittlement effects of common aviation maintenance chemicals and coatings. Both material and geometry were examined to uncover the best constraints for a novel test method. While traditional testing uses a pass/fail approach, the newly developed method employs load monitoring cells over a range of material strength, hydrogen emitting environment, and applied load, allowing prospective solvent replacement chemicals and cadmium replacement coatings to be finely delineated in terms of performance. The team also developed a modeling-based tool for predicting time to failure under any combination of parameters. 

A major benefit of this research will be the removal of implementation hurdles related to hydrogen embrittlement for alternative chemicals and coatings, easing the restriction in the aviation community on the use of alternatives and expanding their applications on high strength steel. The results from this project also led to refining the language of the ASTM Standard

Results from the specimen geometry life prediction models for AMS-6415 steel. The x and y axes are applied load and NaCl concentration, respectively, while the z (vertical) axis represents time to failure. Flat portions indicate no failure within 168 hours.

For this instrumental work, Mr. Grendahl and his project team received the 2014 SERDP Project-of-the-Year Award for Weapons Systems and Platforms. Project Overview 

Project Team 

• Mr. Scott Grendahl, U.S. Army Research Laboratory
• Mr. Hoang Nguyen, Bowhead Science and Technology LLC
• Boeing Research & Technology 
  • Dr. Shuying Zhu
  • Dr. Stephen P. Jones 
  • Ed A. Babcock
  • Dr. Joseph H. Osborne 
  • Stephen P. Gaydos
• Mr. Chad Hogan, U.S. Air Force
• Mr. Richard Green, Green Specialty Service Inc.
• Mr. David Kelly, Asko Processing Inc.

Information provided courtesy of https://www.serdp-estcp.org

Nanocrystalline Coatings Provide Hard Chrome Alternative

Implementation of ESTCP-demonstrated electrodeposited nanocrystalline cobalt-phosphorus (nCoP) coatings on military aircraft will eliminate environmental and worker safety concerns associated with hexavalent chromium used in DoD plating operations, and reduce operational costs. 

Replacement of hard chromium (Cr) plating in aircraft manufacturing activities and maintenance depots is a high priority for the DoD. Hard chrome plating is a critical process that is used extensively within military aircraft maintenance depots for applying wear and/or corrosion resistant coatings to various aircraft components and for general re-build of worn or corroded parts during repair and overhaul. However, hard chrome plating baths contain hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen. Wastes generated from these plating operations must abide by strict EPA emissions standardsand OSHA permissible exposure limits (PELs). The operational costs to comply with these rules and the increased turnaround times for processing of components require DoD to find an environmentally benign alternative to hard chrome. 

Mr. Ruben Prado and Mr. John Benfer of NAVAIR Jacksonville, together with their team, demonstrated that nCoP meets the majority of acceptance criteria for coating quality, adhesion, fatigue, corrosion, hydrogen embrittlement, fluid compatibility, wear, and impact testing for a wide variety of applications. Based on testing to date, the team anticipates that nCoP will be widely specified per MIL-DTL-32502 as a hard chrome alternative.

For this significant work, Mr. Prado, Mr. Benfer, and their project team received the 2014 ESTCP Project-of-the-Year Award for Weapons Systems and Platforms. Project Overview 

Project Team

• NAVAIR Jacksonville
  • Mr. Ruben Prado
  • Mr. Jack Benfer 
• NAVAIR Patuxent River 
  • Mr. Steve Brown
  • Mr. Craig Matzdorf 
• Mr. Michael Firth, NAVAIR Lakehurst
• Mr. Robert Kestler, NAVAIR Cherry Point
• Ms. Denise M. Aylor, NSWCCD
• NAVAIR Jacksonville 
  • Mr. Richard Polinsky
  • Ms. Luzmarie Youngers
  • Mr. Peter Sheridan
  • Ms. Mikaleen Morrell
• CNATRA Det Meridian 
  • Mr. Sean Whitney
  • Mr. Hector Perez
• Mr. Stephen Gaydos, Boeing Research and Development
• Mr. Jerry Curran, NASA Corrosion Technology Laboratory
• Dr. Keith Legg, Rowan Technology Group
• Mr. Neil Mahalanobis, Integran Technologies, Inc.

Information provided courtesy of https://www.serdp-estcp.org

Metalast Surface Technology Launches New Website

The new website supports the reinvention of METALAST’s vision, which enables METALAST to refocus its core priorities. METALAST's vision is to be the leader in environmentally responsible coatings and surface technologies, committed to research, development, and customer service. One of the primary goals for redesigning the website is to help customers get to know METALAST better and begin to experience who MST is as a company.

“We focus on creating synergistic and symbiotic relationships with our customers and employees, which has been instrumental to our growth and success. We are a team of experienced professionals who will go the distance, who pay attention to detail, and who are devoted to make you more efficient and effective at what you do,” said Dean Meiling, President and CEO.

SITE FEATURES:
METALAST’s new website welcomes visitors with a clean and uncluttered design. The content is focused on providing customers with the latest information about MST products and services, and sharing MST knowledge and expertise with metal finishing chemistry. The site was redesigned with user-friendly navigation, enhanced product information including more downloadable files, social sharing features, and overall user experience. The visitors will find everything they are looking for in a few easy clicks.

WHAT’S NEXT:
The website will be updated on a regular basis, with new products, publications and pertinent content. In the months ahead METALAST is planning to launch a responsive design, which means that visitors will see essentially the same design optimized for their smart phone, tablet and desktop. 

METALAST Surface Technology (MST) is a business-to-business provider offering metal surface engineering solutions. MST was the first chemical company licensed by the United States Department of Defense, United States Navy to commercialize and bring to market TCP-HF, a replacement for the carcinogen Hexavalent Chromate.

MST’s comprehensive line of metal finishing chemistry is a one-stop solution for all needs including cleaning, extending corrosion resistance, and sealing, improving paint adhesion and coating durability. MST patented and proprietary chemistries are internationally recognized for providing environmentally responsible metal treatments and solutions. 

Learn more at: http://www.metalast.com