Coating Failure Analysis Series – Part 6 – Laboratory Forensic Analysis

This is a six-part video series that demonstrates the field and laboratory methods that were used to determine why a new coating system applied to a previously painted concrete floor had failed. Each part is standalone, addressing a different aspect of the evaluation, but when viewed in order, they present a systematic step-by-step process for analyzing the cause of the failure, starting with the initial collection of background information, and ending with the laboratory analysis of samples.  The first five videos, covering the field assessment, were filmed at an actual jobsite and are narrated by KTA President, Ken Trimber. The sixth video covering the Laboratory Forensic Analysis was filmed in the KTA laboratory and is narrated by KTA Senior Chemist, Chrissy Stewart.

The last video in this series is embedded below. If you’d like to be the first to know about future articles, videos, webinars, and technical content that we produce, please CLICK HERE to join our contact list and receive email reminders.

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Without further ado, here is the last video in the series.

Part 6: Laboratory Forensic Analysis

This video describes 4 techniques that were used in the laboratory to examine the samples removed from the floor:

• Microscopic analysis of the number of coats, coating thickness, evidence of intercoat contamination, and visible deficiencies in the film
• Infrared spectroscopic analysis to determine if the correct material had been applied and whether mis-mixing or organic contamination was an issue
• Ion chromatography to determine whether residual cleaning agent used on the floor had been painted over or contaminated the film
• Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy to determine if solvent entrapment had occurred.

The field observations and results of the laboratory analysis are combined to establish the cause of the failure.

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