Professional Documents
Culture Documents
For coatings to provide successful corrosion protection of steel, they must adhere to
the substrates on which they are applied. Adhesion is the strength of the bonds
forming between a coating and the underlying substrate. Failures related to
adhesion will determine the life of a coating system.
Our coating laboratory testing service provides a variety of recognized methods for
adhesion evaluation.
Pull-Off Adhesion
Pull-off adhesion testing gives a direct indication and provides quantitative adhesion
values for the bonding strength of a coating to a substrate or the cohesion strength of
the coating in a tension normal to the surface. The test is performed by securing
loading fixtures (dollies or studs) perpendicular to the surface of coatings being
tested with an adhesive. By use of a portable pull-off adhesion tester, a tensile stress
is increasingly applied to the surface and monitored until either the loading fixture is
detached or a specified load value is reached. Failure will occur along the weakest
plane within the system comprised of the fixture, adhesive, coating system, and
substrate. The pull-off strength is reported in pounds per square inch (psi) or mega
Pascals (MPa).
Standard methods for pull-off adhesion test are available in ASTM D4541, ISO 4624,
ASTM D7234, ISO 16276-1, and AS 1580.408.5, etc.
Knife Adhesion
The knife adhesion test is qualitative and subjective, and its value depends upon the
inspector’s experience. The test is done by making two intersecting scratches (X-cut
or V-cut) through the coating to the substrate. The adhesion is then assessed by
peeling the coating from the intersection point with a utility knife. Performance is
based on both the degree of difficulty to remove the coating from the substrate and
the size of removed coating.
Standard methods for knife adhesion test are available in ASTM D6677, ISO 21809-2
Section A.4, and ISO 21809-3 Annex C, etc.