All Wrapped Up - Corrosion Prevention of Stay Behind Equipment for Unit Deployment

March 4, 2011 - PRLog -- When members of the Massachusetts Army Reserve National Guard (MA-ARNG) were deployed to Iraq, their maintenance team sprang into action to ensure the vehicles they left behind would be in good working order when they returned. Officially classified as “Stay Behind Equipment for Unit Deployment”, the fleet consisted of 23 five-ton M915 truck tractors and 10 M87/A3 semi-trailers.  These costly vehicles would be left practically unattended and stored outdoors for up to two years with very little preventive maintenance.

The MA-ARNG chief maintenance officer contacted Protective Packaging Corporation, a flexible packaging converter that specializes in corrosion protection (link this to http://www.protectivepackaging.net) and has more than 25 years of experience working with the U.S. military.  The MA-ARNG unit needed a solution that would keep their vehicles rust- and debris-free through extreme weather conditions such as heavy snowstorms and high winds.

Protective Packaging’s corrosion-prevention specialists assessed the situation and developed a custom solution to meet the MA-ARNG’s needs.  The solution consisted of a moisture barrier material, a reinforced heavy-duty outer cover, desiccant, and volatile corrosion inhibitor (VCI) (link to http://www.protectivepackaging.net/vapor-corrosion-inhibi...) emitters.  

The team from Protective Packaging individually sealed each truck and trailer in multilayer-material moisture barrier bags (link this to http://www.protectivepackaging.net/moisture-barrier-bags) made with durable polyethylene and aluminum foil.  They spread out huge sheets of this material and then drove each truck onto one. Once the truck was in place, the battery was removed, sharp edges were padded with foam and bubble wrap, and desiccant was placed inside the cab. VCI emitters were situated around the trucks in order to provide a corrosion-preventive film. Desiccant (link to http://www.protectivepackaging.net/desiccants) was also placed between each truck and its surrounding material to remove moisture that could cause corrosion or mildew. Then the barrier material was pulled over the top of each truck and sealed along each side with a handheld rotary heat sealer.  This hermetic seal ensured the vehicles were completely enclosed in an enormous moisture barrier bag.  

As a final preventative measure, a heavy-duty, reinforced, custom-made tarp was placed over the barrier bag to give added protection against snow and winds of up to 80 mph.  These were secured with rope through grommets that were added to each tarp’s edges.

The fleet was stored for two years awaiting the return of the deployed MA-ARNG members.  When the maintenance team removed the protective packaging, installed the batteries, and started each vehicle, they found that the trucks suffered no corrosive damage and were easily driven out of the storage yard with no issues.

Prevention of this sort is often forgotten until the last minute or completely neglected.  In this case, the chief maintenance officer’s attention and the Protective Packaging team’s comprehensive solution saved the MA-ARNG thousands — if not hundreds of thousands of dollars — in repair costs. The maintenance officer noted, “I spend more money unfreezing a lug nut on these trucks than what we did protecting one.” This just goes to show an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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