You can never guess where our Vaporol technology will end up next!
Corrosion is a continued issue affecting everything from manufacturing, gas, and oil, marine and even in some cases, the arts.
Philip Rae Scott is an artist based in Dorset, UK. He constructs his impressive, large-scale sculptures and art installations using unique, unconventional materials such as old shipping containers and pieces of discarded scrap metal. ‘Really many years ago I just didn’t have the money to buy fresh, new stuff like corten steel and metals.’
Getting thrifty and thinking outside the box, Philip took inspiration from architectural projects. ‘I knew that these metals and materials were used in things like shipping containers, and they were being used as alternative materials for building offices.’
Being inspired by the reuse of these unconventional materials he found an opportunity: ‘Luckily, I found a job lot on eBay for almost no money, loaded it up on pallets and drove through the night to collect them.’
This stroke of luck set Philip on the path to creating his uniquely formed pieces.
Using these unconventional materials, he gives these discarded pieces of metal a new life as he crafts them into impressive and impossible sculptures.
Unconventional building materials
His works use impressive scale and imposing vertical construction to create striking visuals. Often displayed in natural environments, such as parks, forested areas, or open spaces they achieve an element of unreality within their surroundings.
Philip was drawn to working with metal, due to its association with strength and versatility. He also liked the possibility of creating illusive, apparently gravity-defying sculptures otherwise unachievable in other materials.
Philip says his work is inspired by the making process itself, manmade structures, machinery, and the natural world.
With the scale of the pieces comes a melding of artistic vision and sound engineering. ‘By the time you get to the scale I’m working with you have your sculpture brain and your engineering brain. Fortunately, I’m able to step between the two of them.’
His pieces are built to a self-professed, obsessive degree of longevity: ‘Longevity is something I’m completely obsessed with; ask my friends and family they’ll say it’s like a disease but to me 100 years is not a long time.’
As such, the pieces, built from discarded pieces and materials, stand as an opposition to the one-time use, disposability often found in the modern world. ‘I think it’s important to make things with real integrity and for the long haul. Especially in this wasteful world we live in. I think it’s really important to go against that.‘
His creations have been displayed at numerous art shows and exhibitions across the UK. His pieces are also part of various private collections around the world from Switzerland to Spain and Australia. This means that these pieces need to be protected from various weather conditions and climates.
Unique corrosion solutions
With the use of corrosive metals and manufacturing materials in the pieces comes the same common issue that shipping containers and metal working materials face daily, corrosion.
Philip contacted us to help solve a unique problem needing corrosion protection for the inside of his structures. He needed a closed space protection that could be sprayed inside the structures before being welded together.
Our Commercial Manager, Colin Jones put forward our Vaporol technology as a potential solution for Philips’s unique requirements. With Vaporol’s Volatile corrosion inhibitor (VCI) technology, it can evenly disperse into enclosed spaces. This ensures that just being present within the environment gives it full protection against corrosion.
‘Vaporol, you spray it as best as you can into the work but the vapours are actually doing their work and getting into all the crevices, it’s kind of like magic really.’
This made it perfect for coating the intricate and often unconventionally formed structures found in Philip’s pieces.
Vaporol’s unique applications
When using standard preservative oils, all surfaces have to be completely coated for protection to be effective.
This is difficult, time-consuming, and it can be impossible to reach all internal areas. Over time oil can drain away leaving surfaces exposed and again vulnerable to potential corrosion.
Philip was keen to ensure that pieces retained a seamless finish. ‘I really wanted them to look like solid things. The trouble with that is how do you protect the welds without having panels and hatches on the sides.’
This is where Vaporol was able to rise to the unique problems and requirements of Philips sculptures. Vaporol only needs to be present in the tank (or any enclosed system) to offer effective coverage. The vapours do the rest, reaching every nook and cranny, even in complex machinery, pipe systems and engines.
While the system is enclosed, the contents are fully protected, and this protection lasts indefinitely. No need to seal, as long as tanks are capped, packing cases closed and oil caps on, the vapours will remain in place.
We encourage people to check out Phillip’s unique works and learn more about his process for creating these one-of-a-kind structures.
His current project, a spinning structure, will be using Vaporol technology within the bearings. You can follow along the creative journey here.
Corrosion protection for every industry
It’s this unique corrosion prevention technology within Vaporol products that made it the perfect pick to assist in this unique application and aid the protection of these unique pieces of art.
As is highlighted with Philips works, corrosion is an issue affecting a range of industries. From the shipping and industrial sectors to the arts and more unconventional spaces.
Getting to work on projects like this, allows us to adapt to unique challenges and work towards new solutions to tackle corrosion.
Vapor-Tek is happy to play a hand in assisting Phillip’s unique work and ensuring that unique pieces such as his sculptures can be displayed and enjoyed safe from damage and wear over time due to corrosion.
This is just one of the many unique applications for our technologies here at Vapor-Tek, from submarines to planes, to the harshness of the Arctic, you never know where you’ll find our products next!
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