Many of our customers call HoldTight 102 a rust inhibitor. Are they right?
Inhibitors
Rust inhibitors or corrosion inhibitors are used in a wide variety of applications and industries. It’s a general term. If some substance physically or chemically stops rust, or metal oxidation, it’s an inhibitor.
So, your common handyman grease, or something like WD-40, could count as an inhibitor. These would be lubricants that also prevent rust, by applying a chemical barrier to the surface which prevents corrosion cell formation.
Sorry robots, HoldTight 102 just isn’t the solution for you.
Corrosion Cell
Remember, all corrosion is caused by a corrosion cell, for which you need:
- An anode and a cathode (areas of differential metallic charge). A typical steel surface may be speckled with countless anodes and cathodes on a microscopic level.
- A metallic pathway connecting them. That’s there too on a single piece of steel.
- An electrolyte. Some fluid or fluid-like substance which facilitates electron transfer to complete the circuit. The most common electrolyte?
Thanks, libretexts.org!
A grease or film can remove the electrolyte from the equation, by breaking the circuit between the steel (anode + cathode + pathway) and the electrolyte. So water vapor can get on an inhibitor-treated steel surface, but not cause corrosion because it’s touching the inhibitor rather than the steel. Therefore, no corrosion cell.
We do have another product that does just that, and can be left on the surface for up to a year – it’s called HT 365.
HoldTight 102 is Different
In typical parlance: inhibitors remain present on a surface to stop corrosion.
But HoldTight 102 doesn’t leave a residue. So technically speaking, it does not inhibit corrosion.
How does it prevent corrosion then? It removes microscopic particles and impurities, especially salts, which are hydrophilic, i.e. draw water out of the ambient air.
Nothing left on the surface means nothing to draw that water, which means no electrolyte, which means no rust.
It also means HoldTight 102 is 100% safe for coatings. You don’t need to remove it before application – if the surface is dry, it’s already gone.
HoldTight 102 Flash Rust Preventer, therefore, isn’t an inhibitor. It’s The Un-Inhibitor.