Studies at the Defender-Plus R&D laboratory in Hartville, Ohio allow us to isolate and control almost every variable in corrosion testing. We are still unlocking the tremendous potential of our Electromagnetic Induction Corrosion Control Technology (EICCT) and are committed to advancing both the pure science and its application to the automotive industry.
We employ three full-time scientists to lead our corrosion research. Dr. Michael Lewis invented the technology in 1997 and was hired by Defender-Plus in 2004. Dr. Jason McLafferty joined in 2009. Both scientists, plus two full-time lab assistants, work under the guidance of a world-class corrosion scientist, Dr. Digby Macdonald.
Test Results: “The corrosion rate is reduced by 99.7% by the Module on the Test Panel compared with the Control Panel. Even if the difference in the corrosion potential is reduced to -0.100V, the ratio (CR) test/ (CR) control = 0.0204 and hence the corrosion ratio is reduced by 98%. To put these numbers in perspective, imagine that a system (automobile) fails by corrosion without the Module in a time of 1 year. If the Module is attached, the failure time would be 343 years if the potential is displaced by 150 mV in the negative direction, and 49 years if the potential was displaced by only 100mV. Such results are particularly significant when one considers that the average life of a vehicle is in the order of 10 years. Accordingly, these calculations demonstrate that the reduction in corrosion rate is substantial and that the Module is an effective corrosion control device”.
Type of Test: Salt Spray Test performed to ASTM D1654-92 Standards (Test Method for Evaluation of Painted or Coated Specimens Subject to Corrosive Environments) Test Panel Size: Four panels each measuring 4 feet by 4 feet were grounded together giving a test surface area equal to 128 square feet. All panels were scribed.
Test Results: "substantially reduced the corrosion rate".
Question arose in Canadian Competition Bureau hearing as to whether the induced current is uniformly distributed across the vehicle surface.
This issue was studied by Ohio State University’s Electrosciences Laboratory on an instrumented vehicle.
Current was found to be uniformly distributed across entire surface of vehicle.
Test Panel Size: 2 sections (7 feet x 15 inches) connected by grounding strap Test Results: "substantially reduced the corrosion rate".
is the inventor of EICCT and the leader of the Defender-Plus R&D Department, with a PhD in Physics from Kent State University in 1987. Dr. Lewis has twenty-two patents and invented a new electronic corrosion reduction method in 1997. He has designed various environmental chambers and a Raman spectrometer for surface chemical analysis. While with Cisco Systems, he led a communications systems engineering group where he directed the architectural design of digital signal processing integrated circuits for digital communications and was responsible for the design and direction of several large scale communications computer simulations. As a faculty member and consultant, Dr. Lewis has directed a multidisciplinary materials science research effort to study the relationship between the molecular structure and the third-order optical nonlinearity of metal organic polymers and monomers and has worked extensively in the fields of laser physics, optoelectronics, optical modulation and liquid crystal physics.
has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. He then worked at Alcoa’s Research Laboratories and became interested in electrochemistry. Based on this interest, he decided to do his doctoral dissertation research with Dr. Digby Macdonald in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. He co-wrote two invention disclosures on Regeneration of Sodium Borohydride. Jason graduated with his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Pennsylvania State University with dissertation research in electrochemistry. In 2009, he joined Dr. Michael Lewis at our research facility to explore the electrochemical side of our patented technology.
holds a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, specializing in Electrochemistry from The University of Akron. He also holds Master and Bachelor level degrees in Corrosion/Metallurgy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. From 2011 to 2015, he worked as a PhD Research Assistant at The University of Akron. In that role, he led and conducted research in the development of coating systems and material selection for corrosive environments, employing mathematical simulations. Selected project experience includes materials selection for Cargill Inc., electrochemical coating evaluation for PPG Industries, and damage evolution characterization for Tesla NanoCoatings Inc.
Dr. Maya-Visuet’s research and publications to date have been focused on the effects of pigmentation on polyurethane/polysiloxane hybrid coatings, electrochemical characterization of select stainless steel alloys in the presence of chloride and bromide solutions, and the effect of chloride ions on the electrochemical performance of stainless steel alloys in concrete and simulated concrete-pore solutions. Dr. Maya-Visuet has also presented several papers for both NACE International and Electrochemical Society conferences. He is a member of NACE International, ASM International, and The Electrochemical Society.