[Boatanchors] Rust, Coatings, etc.

[Al Parker]

hi again,
	OK, my memory's almost good.  It was the 64 story US Steel Building, 
completed in 1970, in Pgh, PA that I saw.  I looked at it's early 
construction every day from my drafting table, which was at a window on 
the 20th floor in the close-by Alcoa Building.  Here's an excerpt from 
Wiki on it:
"The U.S. Steel Tower is architecturally noted for its triangular shape 
with indented corners. The building also made history by being the first 
to use liquid-filled fireproofed columns. U.S. Steel deliberately placed 
the massive steel columns on the exterior of the building to showcase a 
new product called Cor-ten steel. Cor-ten resists the corrosive effects 
of rain, snow, ice, fog, and other meteorological conditions by forming 
a coating of dark brown oxidation over the metal, which inhibits deeper 
penetration and doesn't need painting and costly rust-prevention 
maintenance over the years. The initial weathering of the material 
resulted in a discoloration of the surrounding city sidewalks, as well 
as other nearby buildings.  A cleanup effort was orchestrated by the 
corporation once weathering was complete to undo this damage, but the 
sidewalks still have a decidedly rusty tinge. The Cor-Ten steel for the 
building was made at the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works."
73,

Al, W8UT
www.boatanchors.org
www.hammarlund.info

"There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much
worth doing as simply messing about in boats"
Ratty, to Mole

On 4/8/2013 9:51 AM, Paul Kraemer wrote:
> John Deere corporate headquarters in Moline IL.
> Pittsburgh Steel Corten or something like that
> It is a place of beauty
> Ought to be for what they charge for garden tractors---even though they
> are good.
> Paul K0UYA
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael D. Harmon" <mharmon at att.net>
> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2013 9:38 PM
> Subject: [Boatanchors] Rust, Coatings, etc.
>
>
>> I've been reading the thread about rust converting coatings, and I
>> remembered something from about 35+ years ago that I've always
>> wondered about.
>>
>> Westinghouse built a factory back in the Seventies in Jefferson City,
>> MO when I lived there (later bought by ABB).  They manufactured big
>> industrial transformers and switchgear, as I recall.
>>
>> Once they had the exterior of the building completed, they treated it
>> with something that made it rust.  Yes, that's right - as in the
>> reddish-brown iron oxide.  As first it looked pretty bad but after a
>> while it settled into a deep red-brown color and actually looked sort
>> of unobtrusive.  Not what you'd expect from a big steel building
>> covering several acres.  I asked someone why they did that and was
>> told that the rust was only surface deep and permanently protected the
>> underlying steel from further corrosion.
>>
>> I'm wondering if any of you have ever heard of a similar situation
>> where rust was used as a protective coating?  Does the process have a
>> name? Does it work somewhat like gun blue?  Gun blue uses phosphoric
>> acid and creates a deep blackish-blue protective coating (iron
>> phosphate?), but can rust if you leave salty fingerprints on the
>> surface and don't keep the surface protected with a light film of
>> oil.  You don't find many shops that do hot-dip bluing any more,
>> because the salts and solutions (and fumes) used in the process are
>> pretty noxious.
>>
>> Mike, WB0LDJ
>> mharmon at att dot net
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