ProGuard is a new generation concrete cancer prevention and concrete infrastructure coating material that we manufacture in Melbourne, Australia. As of late 2015 we also manufacture this product in Dallas, TX, USA.

Developed primarily for the protection of stressed concrete surfaces, ProGuard is an organometallic coating that has both organic and inorganic components. Compared with traditional coatings that are inherently organic (polyurethane, acrylic, styrene acrylic etc.) our hybrid coatings have some exceptional properties such as:

ProGuard Key Functionality

  • Hydrophobic coating
  • Permanent anti-graffiti
  • Decorative anti-carbonation
  • Easy clean
  • Anti-corrosion coating
  • Concrete protection
  • Concrete cancer prevention
  • Concrete cancer repair

Perfect for Winter months – application down to 3°C

Single coat application directly on to dry or damp concrete

Exceptionally fast application

Over 900,000 m2 of Concrete Cancer Prevention— ProGuard Infrastructure Coating

  • Infrastructure
    • Road tunnels
    • Bridges (abutments, piers, parapets)
    • Road safety barriers
    • Railway tunnels
    • Underpasses
  • Power industry—cooling towers
  • Water industry applications
  • Facades
  • Pipes (internal and external)
  • Walls
  • Council buildings
  • Engineering structures
  • Exposed concrete
  • Hallways
  • Ports
  • Retaining walls
  • Seaside developments
  • Sports stadiums
  • Stairwells
  • Underground structures

See our case studies on Instagram 

Background—New Standards for Tunnel Safety and Maintenance—Concrete Cancer Prevention

Globally, tunnels are becoming longer and are attracting more expensive maintenance programs. In fact, over the last twenty years the costs associated with concrete cancer prevention and maintenance in tunnels has increased exponentially. These trends are resulting in the need for tunnels to last longer. The requirement for best practice has never been more important in order to achieve

  • Cost effective design
  • Enhanced service life
  • Reduced maintenance costs
  • Improved safety

ProGuard—functional opaque coatings for highly stressed concrete surfaces—was designed in response to a request for a new concrete infrastructure coating material to be manufactured to fulfill new standards of safety in road tunnels. The scope of this request is summarised below:

  • Increased tunnel safety by reducing pollution and easier, faster cleaning. A bright, stable and clean tunnel was the primary aim
  • Reduction of maintenance time. Simple, chemical free cleaning procedures
  • Cleaning with water (low-medium pressure spray) and rotating brush
  • Increased resistance to environmental influences (temperature, moisture, chemical attack from salts, diesel soot, rubber abrasion etc
  • Protect the value of the investment—robust and durable concrete protection (one coat to last 30 years)
  • Minimisation of risk in application
  • Not critical to application conditions (temperature, moisture)
  • Short tunnel closures

Wold Creek Tunnel – Application

Our coating be applied directly to dry or damp surfaces and only needs a single coat to be effective. This is phenomenal in terms of cutting costs associated with physical labor, equipment hire and traffic control. Other anti-carbonation and anti-graffiti techniques usually require multiple coats with considerable curing time between coats. Take advantage of a concrete coating for bridges, tunnels and cooling towers that can enhance the functionality and longevity of your industrial assets.

Concrete Cancer Bridge Repair and Prevention

Achieving durable concrete infrastructure coatings in the past has been troublesome due to the high, varying surface porosity of concrete and a difficulty in achieving a strong, even bond. These features have traditionally required primers to reduce overall paint consumption and achieve satisfactory bond strength. The normal practice is for a primer coat to be applied followed by two coats of an acrylic coating, allowing 16 hours between coats.

If anti-graffiti functionality is also required a further application of a 2K polyurethane is required 7 days after the last coat of acrylic. This process is time-consuming and labour intensive.

In the case of infrastructure such as painting bridges and tunnels, traffic control is needed which is expensive. The ProGuard concrete cancer prevention and infrastructure coating material overcomes these problems in a fast-to-apply single coat that also features hydrophobic functionality among other superior properties.

ProGuard for concrete protection can be applied directly to dry or damp surfaces in just one coat which results in more than 50% savings in labour, access equipment and, if required, traffic control compared to other decorative anti-carbonation / anti-graffiti paint systems where multiple coats and long cure times are required. Not only can painting contractors double their turnover, the construction company achieves painting specification under budget and in half the time. The asset owner also benefits from a higher quality, more durable paint system with an effective concrete infrastructure coating with the additional bonus of a hydrophobic (self-cleaning) coating.

In the case of graffiti removal, most tagged surfaces may be wiped clean with a sponge and an off-the-shelf citrus cleaner. For graffiti that is not fresh, we suggest lightly scrubbing with a nylon bristle brush after spraying the graffiti with a suitable cleaner and allowing it to penetrate and lift the graffiti from the surface prior to a high-pressure wash or cloth clean down.

Benefits

  • Exceptional bond strength with substrates (long durability)
  • 10-year warranty when applied by an accredited applicator
  • Application via airless spray, roll or brush
  • One coat process
  • Anti-graffiti
  • Anti-carbonation coating (barrier to chloride ions, barrier to water ingress, barrier to carbon dioxide, allows water vapour to pass)
  • Fire tested (reached A2 fire retardant rating)
  • Great abrasion resistance
  • Concrete protection
  • Very easy to clean
  • Hydrophobic coating
  • Stain resistant
  • Easily patched
  • Bacteria and mould resistant
  • Green product, non-toxic: Very low VOC (63 g/L)
  • Graffiti easily removed using environmentally friendly, non-toxic citric based cleaners

Concrete Cancer Repair

Call NANOKOTE today to discuss concrete protective coatings and how we can add value to your engineering projects. We also specialize in the development, manufacture and application of various surface protection systems for glass, metal and ceramics.