GPI Labs is an independent materials testing laboratory in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serving public agencies, coating manufacturers, infrastructure owners, industrial facilities, engineering firms, and manufacturers throughout the United States.
Contact GPI Labs →Our Location
We operate from a fully equipped testing facility serving state agencies, federal departments, engineering organizations, coating manufacturers, industrial facilities, and product manufacturers nationwide.
GPI Laboratories
4403 Donker Ct SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
Phone: (616) 940-3112
Email: labs@gpilabs.com
Proving Durability When Failure Is Not an Option
The laboratory’s technical foundation was established in the rigorous testing environment of the Michigan Department of Transportation Research Laboratory, where paints, coatings, metals, concrete, and protective systems were evaluated to determine whether they could withstand Michigan’s demanding transportation and environmental conditions.
The mission was practical: help infrastructure last longer, prevent premature coating and material failures, protect public investment, and provide engineers with reliable performance data.
As demand for independent testing expanded beyond Michigan, the organization grew from its origins as Corrosion Control Consultants and Laboratories into GPI Labs. For more than 40 years, clients have relied on our laboratory to produce clear, defensible data for product development, qualification, quality assurance, infrastructure programs, specification compliance, failure investigation, and technical decision-making.
Finding Material Weaknesses Before the Real World Does
Today, GPI Labs supports manufacturers, infrastructure owners, engineering firms, coating companies, and government agencies through independent materials testing. Our laboratory specializes in corrosion and environmental exposure testing, accelerated weathering, coatings performance evaluation, analytical chemistry, failure investigation, environmental testing, and physical property characterization.
Whether a client is validating a new product, qualifying a coating system, verifying production quality, investigating a field failure, or testing against an industry or customer specification, our focus remains the same: delivering repeatable data for engineering and business decisions.
GPI Labs in Materials Research
GPI Labs supports coating manufacturers, universities, public agencies, engineers, and product developers with specimen preparation, laboratory exposure, materials testing, and coating evaluation. Our research articles examine published studies, field failures, and technical programs that show how materials are tested, characterized, and improved.
Coatings for Space Flight
Researchers at North Dakota State University investigated a polysiloxane coating that could be converted into a ceramic-like silicon oxycarbide barrier on steel. The work examined glass frit, high-temperature oxidation, ASTM B117 salt-spray exposure, and the formation of a protective coating capable of remaining corrosion resistant after temperatures as high as 1,400 °F.
GPI Laboratories supplied the prepared steel substrates used in the published research. The article also examines NASA launch-pad corrosion, turbine hot corrosion, and the need for protective coatings that can withstand both high temperature and aggressive environments.
NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion at Launch Pad 39B. Image: NASA.
Jones Barton, Lab Operations Manager
Jones Barton serves as Lab Operations Manager for GPI Labs, overseeing daily laboratory operations, testing workflows, equipment customization, quality assurance, and continuous process improvement. A Mechanical Engineering graduate of Kettering University, Jones brings more than a decade of experience in materials engineering, laboratory automation, metrology, failure analysis, and advanced characterization. He also has extensive experience with laboratory quality systems, SOP development, hazardous material handling, Gage R&R studies, and ISO 9001 compliance. Jones applies that experience to support laboratory operations, testing quality, and continuous improvement.
Talk With the GPI Labs Team
Send us your specification, material, coating system, sample type, environmental exposure requirement, or failure investigation need. Our laboratory team will help identify the appropriate preparation, testing, evaluation, and reporting approach.