Fastener Coatings and Corrosion Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Concentrated but not locked up. the top 5 assignees hold 52.7% of all 55 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 78.2% — a narrow leadership tier sits above a long tail of single-filer entrants.
- Filing has cooled from its 2017 peak. the field peaked at 8 records in 2017, and volume moving from 5 filings in 2021 to 2 in 2024 (-60%) points to a maturing, more selective filing pattern rather than fresh land-grab activity.
- Coating chemistry and fastener form overlap directly. F16B fastener claims appear in 36.4% of records and C09D coating claims in 29.1%, with C23C surface deposition close behind at 21.8% — most contested claims sit at the fastener-coating interface, not in either domain alone.
Filing growth compares 2021 (5 records) with 2024 (2) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 55 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent activity at the intersection of mechanical fastening and protective coating chemistry — zinc flake systems, chromium-free formulations, and the corrosion and hydrogen-embrittlement testing regimes that qualify a fastener coating for automotive, aerospace or offshore use. The search combines fastener-coating and corrosion terms with process and performance terms such as salt spray hours, hydrogen embrittlement, friction stability and galvanic pairing, so the corpus favours records that claim a tested, qualified coating system rather than a bare chemical composition.
The dataset spans 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off and covers 55 published records treated as families for the assignee ranking. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so recent years understate real filing activity; treat 2024 as the last complete year for trend reading.
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Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 55-record corpus: filing activity by year, and the IPC subclasses that records fall into. Because a record can carry more than one class, the subclass shares add up to more than the record total.
Filing trend, 2017 peak to present
Filings peaked at 8 records in 2017. The 2021-to-2024 span shows volume moving from 5 to 2 records, a -60% change over that window; years after 2024 are still filling in under publication lag and should not be read as a continued decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
F16B (fasteners) leads at 36.4% of the 55 records, followed by C09D (coatings, paints & inks) at 29.1% and C23C (coating & surface deposition) at 21.8%. B32B laminates and C21D heat treatment each sit at 12.7%, with C08K additives, B05B spraying and B64D aircraft equipment each under 10% — smaller but present classes worth watching for adjacent filing.
Shares are the percentage of the 55 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Fastener Coatings and Corrosion with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about fastener coatings and corrosion and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this corpus
EP3655258B1 — Wheel bearing arrangement with a coating
Filed by Schaeffler Technologies, this record claims a wheel bearing arrangement incorporating a specific coating layer, positioning the claim at the junction of a mechanical bearing component and its corrosion-protective surface treatment.Published 2022-05-18.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4110117A | Coating composition | 78 |
| 2 | US20050109433A1 | High-strength steel component with zinc containing corrosion resistant layer | 49 |
| 3 | US4086096A | Coating composition | 37 |
| 4 | US4571328A | Aqueous hydrides | 26 |
| 5 | US9562557B2 | Punch pins, associated sockets, and methods of forming sockets using punch pins | 19 |
| 6 | US4570713A | Aqueous silicon compounds in oil well recovery methods | 15 |
| 7 | US20150104271A1 | Punch pins, associated sockets, and methods of forming sockets using punch pins | 12 |
| 8 | US4086095A | Coating composition | 12 |
| 9 | US20170101716A1 | Corrosion control coating | 9 |
| 10 | US20060008668A1 | Multilayer, corrosion-resistant finish and method | 9 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns worth acting on before drafting or licensing in this space.
Leadership sits in a narrow tier
The leader holds 7 records, fifth place holds 4, and tenth place holds 2 — concentration drops off fast after the top tier, and the gap between fifth and tenth place is thin enough that a focused filer could contest mid-table position.
Volume has cooled, not vanished
The named leaders in the recent-year momentum data show 0 filings in the latest year, consistent with a field that filed its foundational claims earlier and is now defending or licensing rather than expanding coverage.
Claims cluster at the fastener-coating boundary
F16B and C09D are the two largest classes and both sit well above the next tier, meaning most active claim drafting treats the fastener geometry and the coating chemistry as a single inventive unit rather than filing them separately.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to fastener coatings and corrosion, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked field covers 26 companies across the 55 records in scope. Filing activity spans automotive component suppliers, aerospace primes, coating chemical formulators and industrial fastener makers, with several of the most active recent-year names showing zero filings in the latest year — a sign of a settled rather than expanding leadership tier.
A single leader, then a fast drop-off
The leading assignee holds 7 of the 55 records, roughly double the fifth-place holder's 4, indicating an early and sustained filing program rather than a recent surge.
The mid-table is contestable
Between fifth place (4 records) and tenth place (2 records), the spread is narrow enough that a handful of well-targeted filings could shift ranking position.
Co-filing is limited and inventor-driven
Only four co-assignee pairs appear in the corpus, and the strongest links are repeated inventor pairings rather than cross-company joint ventures, suggesting most IP here is built in-house.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| EJOT SE & Co. KG | 0 | — |
| Stiesdal Offshore A/S | 0 | — |
| The Boeing Company | 0 | — |
| THOMAE KURT J | 0 | — |
| Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG | 0 | — |
| Acument Intellectual Properties LLC | 0 | — |
| Ewald Dorken AG | 0 | — |
| Mobil Oil Corporation | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The landscape points to a settled leadership tier and a contestable mid-table. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or new filing.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's claims
With one assignee holding 7 of 55 records, any new coating or fastener design should be checked against that portfolio's specific claim language before drafting.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaTarget the under-claimed branches
Chromium-free formulations, friction-stability additives and galvanic-pairing claims all show filing activity without a dominant single claimant — a more tractable place to file than the crowded F16B/C09D core.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack mid-table momentum
The narrow gap between fifth and tenth place means small shifts in filing activity change ranking quickly; monitoring new publications there is more informative than watching the leader alone.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaCommon questions on fastener coating patents
The ranked field covers 26 companies across 55 records, with the leading assignee holding 7 records and the top 5 combined holding 52.7% of all records in scope. That leaves a long tail of smaller filers, so no single company controls the field outright. Fifth place holds 4 records and tenth place holds 2, meaning the mid-table is closely spaced and worth watching for shifts.
Filing peaked at 8 records in 2017 and has since cooled, with the 2021-to-2024 window showing a move from 5 records to 2, a -60% change. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the years after 2024 are still filling in and should not yet be read as a continued decline. The pattern so far looks like a maturing field that filed its core claims earlier rather than one still in a land-grab phase.
The largest IPC class is F16B (fasteners such as bolts and rivets), appearing in 36.4% of the 55 records, followed by C09D (coatings, paints and inks) at 29.1% and C23C (coating and surface deposition) at 21.8%. Smaller but present classes include B32B laminates, C21D heat treatment, C08K polymer additives, B05B spraying and B64D aircraft equipment. Because records often carry multiple classes, most contested claims combine a fastener geometry element with a coating chemistry or deposition element.
EP3655258B1, assigned to Schaeffler Technologies and published 2022-05-18, claims a wheel bearing arrangement that incorporates a specific coating layer. It sits at the intersection of a mechanical bearing component and a corrosion-protective surface treatment rather than claiming either element in isolation. Anyone designing a coated bearing or fastener component for a similar rotating-assembly application should review its specific claim scope before finalising a design.
The smaller IPC classes in this corpus — B05B spraying and atomising, B64D aircraft equipment, and C08K polymer additives — each sit under 10% of records with no dominant single claimant, unlike the crowded F16B and C09D core classes. Chromium-free zinc flake formulations, friction-stability additive packages, and galvanic pairing for dissimilar-metal joints show filing activity but no clear leader. These branches are more tractable for new filings than the core fastener-coating claim space, where the top assignees already hold dense prior art.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.