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Why Natina Color Treatment May Be What Your Next Construction Project Needs

If an upcoming project involves galvanized steel structures or materials of any kind—and you want to make them more aesthetically appealing without sacrificing strength—look to Natina Steel Solution. This is a reactive color treatment that can turn shiny steel into a mottled brown finish that gives a more natural look to the area around it. If it’s important to you that your steel structure blends into its surrounding environment, add Natina to your project. Here’s what you should know for your commercial or industrial construction project.

Natina on railing and flood channel near South Mountain.

How Our Steel Solution Works

Before you decide whether to use Natina to beautify the galvanized steel in your project, it’s important to understand the science behind it. What makes it so effective? To start, this solution is called a reactive color treatment because when it’s applied to galvanized steel, it reacts with the surface structure to change the color from gray metal to rustic brown patina. The exact shade of brown is determined by the type of metal, manufacturing and the zinc content. This makes every result unique, like a surface you’d see in nature rather than a uniform finish that looks manmade.

In addition to being considered a reactive color treatment, Natina Steel Solution is also categorized as a conversion coating. This is a specialized coating made for metal, in which the metal surface experiences a change to the outer layer of zinc, coloring it into the Natina finish. To clarify, conversion coatings, like Natina Steel Solution, aren’t coatings that attempt to stick to the surface like paint, but instead make actual organic modifications to the metal.

Natina on Corrugated Metal

Because of this, Natina Steel Solution offers the following benefits:

• Natural look and finish
• Non-toxic and safe around plants, animals and waterways
• Low maintenance
• Alternative to weathering steel

Plus, when you decide to use Natina Steel Solution for your project, you can relax knowing you’re in good hands. Our skilled team members have experience applying our solution to a variety of different structures, surfaces, components, parts and more.

Why Use Natina Steel Solution Instead of Paint or Powder Coat?

If your first thought is that you can paint or powder coat your galvanized steel to get a natural look, understand the material’s longevity is at risk. The main reason is that paints and coatings of various kinds are known for photodegradation. Due to this paint and powder coating will eventually fade and discolor—and once it starts peeling, there is a weakness, and it will continue looking poor.

Don’t want this maintenance or look? Contact our team for better results.

Paints and powder coatings form physical bonds at surface or metal interfaces, which can be problematic on some surfaces – resulting in peeling and cracking over time. Natina’s natural chemical reaction to the galvanized steel surfaces provides a unique rustic finish. Additionally, Natina Steel Solution is UV-proof, so sunlight doesn’t adversely affect the patina either. In fact, this product has been tested to ensure that the steel core and zinc coating are properly preserved and not compromised when Natina is applied.

Common Uses of Natina Steel Solution

Our Steel Solution has been an integral part of numerous large-scale projects involving steel. You can take a look at our list of projects to see some of the most common uses, but in general, they include the following:

Natina on galvanized surfaces.

• Highway guardrails and end terminals
• Transmission poles
• Chain link fences
• Cell towers
• Safety railing on walking and biking trails
• Bridges
• Cable barriers
• Mile markers
• Lattice towers
• Signposts
• Wire mesh on mountainsides
• Corrugated metal
• Erosion control systems

From sign structures in busy Las Vegas to a flood channel by Phoenix’s South Mountain, we’ve been involved in a variety of projects to add our natural patina. Though these projects range in size and location quite a bit, one detail they all have in common is a need to turn shiny metal into a shade of brown that looks natural and pleasing to the eye.

If you think your project could use the same improvements, contact us today to find out if Natina Steel Solution is right for you!