Introduction – Aluminum and aluminum alloys exhibit good corrosion resistance by virtue of a layer of aluminum oxide that forms on the surface. While aluminum is often not coated because of its good corrosion resistance properties, there are occasions when coatings are applied to provide added protection in given environments (e.g., when the pH is
Cleaning and Painting Aluminum Substrates Read More »
Wood is one of the most utilized building materials for exterior structures. Like most exterior substrates, wood structures need protection from the environment. While some wood types are naturally resistant to the environment (e.g., cedar) and some wood is treated with chemicals to preserve its integrity (wolmanized timber), paints and coatings are used to both
Performance Testing of Exterior Wood Coatings Read More »
Aerosol paints (also referred to as spray paints), like other paints are used for both protection and aesthetics; however, they differ from conventional paints due to their unique atomization/ application method and the container used to both store and apply the paint. The concept and the design may seem simplistic to the do-it-yourself consumer, but
Aerosol Paint – Technology and Testing Read More »
Introduction Concrete is the most widely used building material worldwide because it has many unique properties that make it ideal for use in construction. Concrete is formable and is naturally resistant to UV, mold and insects. Concrete is noncombustible and is relatively inexpensive relative to other building materials. Why Coat Concrete? There are several reasons
Introduction Ironically, the demand for improved water quality has made the service environment of wastewater treatment facilities even more aggressive, requiring higher performance coatings for corrosion protection. Environmental regulations have restricted the heavy metal content and required pH control of water discharged to wastewater treatment facilities. Prior to the implementation of these regulations, the microbes
Performance Testing of Coating Systems for Wastewater Service Read More »
Unlike many industrial structures, ships often contain a variety of multi-layer coating systems on a single vessel, and even on the exterior hull itself, often including a complex sequence of anticorrosive layers followed by antifouling layers. This article focuses on the recoating of a ship’s exterior hull that resulted in catastrophic failure before the ship
Delamination of a Coating from a Ship’s Hull Read More »
For clear, magnified images and quick, targeted analyses of elemental composition, SEM-EDS is the method of choice. Introduction. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) can be used to examine samples at very high magnifications – up to 1 million times! The analysis of coating failures with an SEM typically only uses magnifications up to 10,000X, however,
