Element Goes Global with Its Coatings Testing Technology

Element Materials Technology (Element) has invested in growing its global coatings testing capabilities to bring new services and capacity closer to its customer base across Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Element’s recent investments have included constructing new centers of excellence in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Edinburgh, UK; and Houston, TX, which are further complemented by existing coatings facilities in Abu Dhabi and Singapore. The investments improve capacity and customer lead times and facilitate coatings testing across a range of sectors, including oil & gas, petrochemicals, marine and renewables. They also ensure a highly technical offering at a local level, combined with the strength and uniformity of a global service, led technically by Global Coatings Specialist, Marie Halliday.

For subsea and heavy duty marine protective coatings, especially for the oil & gas sector, Element has increased its capabilities with qualification testing investment. Additional investment in full scale pipe reeling capabilities at the Edinburgh laboratory complements Element’s existing UK service offering, including resonance fatigue testing in Aberdeen and Simulated Service Testing in Hitchin, providing increased testing to ISO12736 for the European oil & gas industry.

The Group has also created extended capacity and capability in environmental exposure and accelerated weathering testing. This has included installation of cyclic corrosion chambers, salt spray, humidity, mechanical test equipment and UV cabinets across all of Element’s coatings laboratories, enabling testing in accordance with a wide range of global standards including ISO, ASTM and NACE.

Matt Hopkinson, EVP of Oil & Gas and Infrastructure at Element, said: “Element is committed to being at the forefront of testing technologies globally, whilst providing our customers with a highly technical local offering.

“Our laboratories, situated across multiple continents, allow us to provide a more efficient service across a variety of markets. We have identified strengths in our protective coatings and marine capabilities that are increasingly beneficial to our customers.

“In this way, Element can become a true testing partner and bring certainty to the coatings approvals process and development of test programs for our clients.”

Element’s global coatings facilities can meet the requirements for key industry coating test standards including: Norsok M-501; the recently revised and updated ISO 12944 parts 6 and 9; and ISO 21809 parts 1, 2 and 3, creating a stronger, more unified global reach.