Cerakote: Isn't it supposed to be ceramic?

That company is NIC Industries, the “creators” of Cerakote Gun Coatings. The information provided here only applies to their H-Series coating which is currently being sold as a firearm finish. Findings do not apply to any other product produced by NIC although we will be analyzing those in the future.  Exhaustive research has been completed to verify this information before release.

Cerakote H-Series Firearm Coating, as the name implies, is marketed as a ceramic coating. Their current SDS (Safety Data Sheet), as of 9/8/15, describes this product as a “Heat Curable Polymer-Ceramic Composite Coating.”  Statements such as “The foundation for Cerakote H-Series coatings is a unique ceramic technology” can be found in their literature and has become a major selling point for this coating. Below is a copy of their Technical Data Sheet for this coating with this statement highlighted.

Well, we hate to break it to you but Cerakote H-Series contains little, if any, ceramic.

A sample of Cerakote H-Series in Graphite Black was sent to a lab for analysis. The analysis broke down the components for identification. The test concluded that Cerakote is basically an epoxy resin suspended in a solvent. This test measured down to 1% and  no ceramic was detected. The current SDS does list “Ceramic and/or Metallic pigments or colorants” but that is a far cry from a ceramic foundation.

A copy of the lab results are posted here. At the request of the lab, names and identifying information have been redacted.

Now, an epoxy coating is not inherently a bad thing.  Epoxies can be used in a variety of environments and hold up very well. So, why might Cerakote be misleading customers into believing their coating is ceramic rather than an epoxy? Stay tuned for our analysis of that...

You may be asking yourself, “why did DuraCoat® go to the trouble of having Cerakote tested”? Well, honestly, we never actually paid that much attention to them and we probably should have. We discovered last fall that NIC Industries/Cerakote was using our DuraCoat® and Lauer™ trademarks in Google ads to draw potential customers to their website. Basically, they were running “bait and switch” ads with headings like “Buy DuraCoat Here” and “Lauer DuraCoat” followed by the Cerakote website link. This caused us to investigate their website further and we discovered several things that seemed amiss. A lawsuit and settlement soon followed which leads us to today. We decided that the fraud can no longer go unknown. Stay tuned as we continue to unravel the web of deceit.