Coating Standards

Referenced Requirements in SSPC Standards and Complimentary Industry Standards

Background SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings, NACE International and other trade organizations have volunteer technical committees made up of subject matter experts that develop consensus standards that are drafted, balloted, approved and published. Development of a new standard can take as short as 3 years and as long as 5-7 years, depending on the […]

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sspc visual guides

How to Use SSPC Vis Guides in Practice

SSPC has published four visual guides that depict the different degrees of cleaning for dry and wet abrasive blast cleaning, water jetting, and hand/power tool cleaning.  Two of the four were prepared jointly with NACE International (Figure 1). The guides are: SSPC-VIS 1, Guide and Reference Photographs for Steel Surfaces Prepared by Dry Abrasive Blast

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coating specification language

Coating Specification Language – What Goes Where?

What is considered a good coating specification and how is it written? Specifications are essentially a project “roadmap” that should convey the project scope of work and the requirements in a simple, clear, concise and easy to read format.  A well written specification allows the reader to easily navigate, understand, and use the document.  The

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sspc cs-23

Highlights of Revisions to SSPC-CS 23.00/AWS C223M/NACE No. 12 Specification for Thermal Spray Coatings (TSC)

SSPC-CS 23.00/AWS C223M/NACE No. 12 Specification for the Application of Thermal Spray Coatings (Metallizing) of Aluminum, Zinc, and Their Alloys and Composites for the Corrosion Protection of Steel was originally published in 2003 by three societies, including SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings, the American Welding Society (AWS) and NACE International. Ten years later a

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coating specifications

The Use of Shall, Should and May in Coating Specifications and Standards

When reviewing reference standards, a single word can make the difference between a requirement that is mandatory, versus one that is recommended or optional.  The same is true of specifications, although in that case, most if not all requirements should be written as being mandatory.   The words shall, should, and may are the focus of

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vapor blasting

New SSPC/NACE Wet Abrasive Blast Cleaning Standards

New SSPC/NACE wet abrasive blast cleaning (WAB) standards were approved in August 2015.  The standards define five degrees of cleaning that are created using a mixture of abrasive and water.  The mixture is created in one of three ways:  water is injected into the dry abrasive blast stream, abrasive is injected into a pressurized water

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Free eBook: Measuring Coating Thickness According to SSPC-PA 2

Click the Image Below to Download your free SSPC-PA 2 eBook “Coating thickness shall be measured in accordance with SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings Paint Application Standard No. 2 (SSPC-PA 2)” is a simple enough statement, yet this common specification requirement is often misinterpreted….. In This eBook, You’ll Learn… A Brief History of SSPC-PA

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Liberty Bridge

Specifying Flame Retardant Containment Materials

On September 2, 2016, workers were cutting steel with a torch on the Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The steel cutting operations were being performed within a containment enclosure system previously erected for an associated paint removal project on the bridge.  During the steel cutting process, sparks reportedly ignited ventilation piping inside the containment, then

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pre-testing coatings

Can Pre-Project Coating Testing Lead to Post-Application Performance?

Many agencies and facility owners require coating testing of products and systems prior to their use on a coating project. This is not an original concept; developing a qualified products list (or QPL) is becoming more commonplace, as not all coatings and coating systems are created as equals, even if they are in the same generic

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Rilem Tube

Mitigating Moisture in Concrete and Masonry Walls

In commercial buildings, the uncontrolled intrusion of moisture into concrete and masonry walls may have costly consequences. Moisture supports the growth of mold, and causes wall coatings to blister and peel. It also saturates insulation, reducing energy efficiency. In extreme cases, moisture intrusion leads to spalling and could even necessitate wall replacement. Coatings and water

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