A major technological milestone has been achieved in China’s fastener industry as a domestic research team, in collaboration with a leading manufacturing enterprise, announced that their independently developed ceramic-coated fasteners have successfully passed the 1000-hour neutral salt spray test. This breakthrough not only verifies the superior corrosion resistance of domestic ceramic-coated fasteners but also marks China’s official end to long-term dependence on imported high-performance corrosion-resistant fasteners, filling a key gap in the country’s high-end fastener supply chain.
Fasteners are critical basic components widely used in aerospace, marine engineering, offshore wind power, and other high-end equipment fields. In harsh environments such as high humidity, salt fog, and chemical corrosion, the corrosion resistance of fasteners directly determines the safety and service life of the entire equipment. Previously, high-performance ceramic-coated fasteners relied heavily on imports from Europe and Japan, with high procurement costs and long supply cycles, restricting the independent development of China’s strategic emerging industries.
The newly developed ceramic-coated fasteners adopt an innovative plasma spraying technology, which forms a dense, uniform ceramic coating on the surface of the fasteners. Unlike traditional coating technologies, this new process enhances the bonding strength between the coating and the fastener substrate, effectively avoiding coating peeling and cracking. According to the test report released by the National Fastener Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, after 1000 hours of continuous salt spray corrosion testing, the surface of the domestic ceramic-coated fasteners showed no signs of rust, corrosion, or coating damage, with a corrosion resistance level that meets or exceeds international advanced standards.
“The 1000-hour salt spray test is a strict benchmark for evaluating the corrosion resistance of high-end fasteners,” said Dr. Li Ming, the leader of the research team. “Our team has overcome key technical difficulties such as uneven coating thickness and poor bonding strength through three years of research and development, optimizing the coating material ratio and spraying process parameters repeatedly. The successful passing of the test means that domestic fasteners can fully meet the harsh environment application requirements of offshore wind power, marine engineering, and other fields.”
Industry insiders pointed out that this technological breakthrough will significantly reduce the procurement cost of high-performance fasteners for domestic enterprises. It is expected that the price of domestic ceramic-coated fasteners will be 30%-40% lower than that of imported products, while ensuring stable supply. This will not only enhance the core competitiveness of China’s equipment manufacturing industry but also provide strong support for the localization of key components in strategic industries such as new energy and aerospace.
At present, the research team has completed the industrialization transformation of this technology, and the first batch of domestic ceramic-coated fasteners has been put into trial application in a number of offshore wind power projects. The relevant enterprise stated that it will further expand production capacity and promote the wide application of this technology in more fields, contributing to the high-quality development of China’s fastener industry.