11 Other coatings and linings Objective ‘When you have gone through this chapter you should know about other possibili- ties than paint for protecting steel against corrosion. Introduction Far from all areas are suitable for using paint as corrosion protection. The reasons. can be that the steel will be exposed to hard mechanical or chemical influences, and that certain areas are difficult to access for maintenance later on. This chapter deals with coatings and linings which protect metals in more or less the same way as paints, by forming a barrier between the metal and the sur- roundings. The coatings or linings are usually organic or metallic. Powder coatings Powder coatings or powder finishes are designations used for various products applied in powder form to the surface. When the powder is heated, it forms a continuous film. In its composition the powder material is similar to paint, but it does not contain solvents. The material consists of binder, pigments, extenders and additives. The binder can be a thermosetting material like epoxy or polyester, or a thermoplastic material like polyethylene. In the case of thermosetting materials both base and curing component are mixed together in the powder. Usually small industrial articles are powder coated, but also large objects, for example pipes, can be coated. The coating provides a barrier effect, a “rain coat”, but has no other anticorrosion effect. Pretreatment is normally degreasing and blast cleaning (Sa 24, medium rough- ness) or chemical pretreatment like zinc phosphating (also called conversion coat- ing). The latter pretreatment provides a certain anticorrosive effect in addition to ensuring proper adhesion. If objects made of steel are to withstand a corrosive environment, the pretreatment must be zinc or zinc manganese phosphating. Rins- ing with water should be carried out after phosphating. This pretreatment is also suitable on hot dip galvanized steel and some types of zinc phosphating can be used on various types of aluminium. Degreasing alone does not provide a very good pretreatment. With blast clean- ing a suitable subtrate is obtained and, depending on the type and thickness of the 280 Corrosion PROTECTIONpowder coating, good corrosion protection can be obtained in a wide range of envi- ronments. Chromating produces a good pretreatment on galvanized steel and alu- minium, but this pretreatment method should be avoided for environmental rea- sons. ‘An anticorrosive primer coat can also be applied to a blast cleaned or zinc- phosphated surface. Primer coats of polyvinyl butyral or water-borne acrylic with zinc phosphate pigments have proved to be excellent. The three main methods for powder application are: Electrostatic and tribo-electric spraying Fluidized bed dipping Cascade coating Electrostatic spraying is carried out with a spray gun tipped with a high voltage electrode. This produces charged air molecules in front of the gun which in tum adhere to the powder particles and give the particles a charge opposite to that of the object, normally electrically well-connected to earth. A variation of the charging spray gun is the tribo-electric or friction charging gun. Instead of picking up a charge from a high voltage electrode the powder is charged by friction with the inner material of the gun. The charging effect is nor- mally less than for the high voltage gun, but without the adverse effects from the Faraday cage connected to the field lines between the high voltage electrode and inner corners of the work piece. The workpieces usually hang from a conveyor. They can be cold or preheated. When the workpieces are preheated to a temperature exceeding the melting point of the powder, high film thicknesses can be obtained. Especially thermosetting powders like epoxy and polyester are sprayed electro- statically. After spraying, the object with the powder must be heated in an oven at 160-250°C. This takes 5-20 minutes. When the powder is heated, it melts and cures. = When a fluidized bed is used, the powder is kept suspended in a tank. Above the bottom of the tank a filter board is placed through which compressed air is intro- duced. The air flow keeps the powder in suspension, and it then acts almost like a fluid. The object to be coated has been preheated to a temperature above the melt- ing point of the powder. It is dipped in the fluidized powder which at once fuses to acoating film. The dipping time is usually just a few seconds. After this the workpiece is chilled in a water bath or in air. This method is also called swirl sintering. The powder types applied by this method are normally thermoplastics like polyethylene. When the cascade method is used, the powder is applied by being cascaded across the surface. The method is suitable for the interior of pipes and small tanks or containers. The object must be preheated and must rotate during the coating process. Epoxy powder has been used for subsea pipelines. There improved properties over those of asphalt and tar coatings have been experienced, provided that surface preparation and application are carried out to a high standard. One problem has been the damage which the coating has suffered when concrete weight coats have been applied on the outside. These problems have been overcome by using a protec- tive intermediary coat, which also improves adhesion. Epoxy coatings applied to large pipes and pipe components are called fusion 11 OTHER COATINGS AND LININGS 281. eeebond epoxy (FBE). Such coatings are often applied in two coats with a total thick- ness of approximately ] mm. Often the fusion bond epoxy is overcoated with coat- ings or jackets of other materials. For various objects, plates and profiles, both for interior and exterior use, epoxy and polyester coatings are applied in a thickness of approximately 80 um. For outdoor surfaces weather-resistant polyester-based powder coatings are preferred. Epoxy powder coatings exposed to sunlight will chalk like other epoxy coat- ings. A number of other types of thermoplastics than polyethylene are also available. The thicknesses in which they are used may vary from 150 ym to 1500 pm. Polyethylene has poor adhesion to metal and requires a special primer. The material has good flow properties and provides high film thicknesses. The coating is relatively soft (wax-like) and has little wear resistance. dv» ( “ 0 Water hosing and drying Blast cleaning to Vacuum cleaning of rusty workpiece Sa 2%3 =< KMQQN DOORS Heating: induction heating of the workpiece Powder spraying or powder dipping _ am Heat curing Cooling < Inspection Figure 11.1 Coating with epoxy powder 282 Corrosion ProtectionPolypropylene, which is related to polyethylene, has somewhat better heat resist- ance and improved mechanical properties. PVC has also been used for a long time. Like the other coatings it has good chemical resistance. Rilsan (nylon/polyamide 11) is a widely used coating material for corrosion protection. It has good adhesion to steel and aluminium, but often a special primer is used. The coating has a number of excellent properties, including good weather- ing and wear resistance, and it withstands a large number of chemicals. While the other coatings are mainly applied by dipping or swirl sintering, Rilsan is also sprayed electrostatically. Tar and asphalt coatings Pipelines are protected by thick coatings. Previously tar was the most widely used coating. It has excellent water resistance, but due to carcinogenic substances it has become less used in recent years. Tar coating of pipes takes place in shops. The pipes are blast cleaned and primed before heated and liquid tar is poured over them. The coating is usually built up from several layers of tar with fibreglass reinforcement between the layers. Total film thickness is usually 3-6 mm. The coatings withstand service temperatures of approximately 60-80°C. Asphalt coatings, which also have good water resistance and good resistance to cathodic disbonding, are used to an increasing extent. The coating of such pipes takes place in shops where the pipes are rotated while being wrapped in a fibreglass fabric and hot asphalt poured over. The total thickness of the coating is usually 5- 6 mm. Asphalt coatings have, for example, been used on a major project in the North Sea. The pipes have been further protected with approximately 50 mm rein- forced concrete and approximately 8000 tons of sacrificial anodes of aluminium- zinc-indium. Wax For a number of years wax products have been used for corrosion protection of interiors of ducts and hollow spaces on cars. The wax products are generally based on petroleum wax with special properties that make them suitable for protection of | metals. Similar materials, leaving a sticky surface, are used today in a number of areas as temporary protection, for example on valves for offshore installations. Normally the dry film has a certain degree of inherent tackiness or softness which causes dirt to stick more easily. Waxes have good water resistance but little resistance to sol- vents and chemicals. They protect the metal by forming a barrier between the metal and the surroundings. 11 OTHER COATINGS AND LININGS 283Tape Tapes are used for pipes and inaccessible areas, for example joints, valves and tubular parts. On small areas the tape can be manually applied. But in order to obtain improved protection it may be advantageous to apply an anticorrosive primer before the tape is wrapped. Pretreatment: Water hosing and drying Blast cleaning to Vacuum cleaning of rusty workpiece Sa2% Outer tape Primer Corrosion-protective tape Inspection Figure 11.2 Lining with tape Large pipes are blast cleaned and primed in a workshop before they are wrapped with 50% overlapping. Numerous types of tape are used. For example, petrolatum is widely used. This is tape consisting of a thin cotton or synthetic fabric impreg- nated with grease or petrolatum. The tape is water-repellant, green or grey col- oured, and is often used on concealed areas. The tapes come in various qualities. The upper service temperature of such tapes is within the range of 45-70°C. There are also tape qualities which are suitable for higher temperatures. Some tape types can be used at temperatures of 200-400°C. Such tapes are generally fibreglass tapes lined with special heat and weather resistant substances, for exam- ple silicon. Other tape types used are bitumen tapes. Hot-melt coatings Wax, grease and hot-melt asphalt must be melted before they can be applied. The melting of wax and grease coatings takes place in equipment consisting of an inner tank and an outer tank. The wax or grease coating lumps are placed in the inner 284 Corrosion PROTECTIONtank. An oil with a high flash point, thermo oil, is circulated in the space between the inner and outer tanks. In the oil, below the bottom of the inner tank, heating elements are mounted which heat the oil. Some units are gas-heated. The inner tank is uniformly heated by the oil. When the melt has reached the correct temperature, spraying can start. Airless spraying is used. The packings of the fluid pump must be able to tolerate relatively high temperatures. The same applies to the fluid hoses. Some units have two hoses extending to the gun. One is a return hose. The hoses can be non-insu- lated or insulated. A heating cable can be fitted in-between the hose and the insula- tion. The coatings are applied in thick layers. Consequently, large nozzles are used. Orifices from 0.031” to more than 0.040” are common. If the melt keeps the correct temperature and spraying takes place almost continuously, a non-insulated fluid hose extended to the gun will be sufficient. If the spraying stops, the material will solidify in the hose and gun. The hose and gun are then placed in a tank containing oil with a high flash point. When the material has melted, the pump is started and hot material is run through the unit. Pump, hoses and gun are cleaned with hot white spirit. Asphalt for anticorrosion purposes are largely melted in asphalt cookers with direct gas heating. The temperature required for melting the relevant asphalt types varies, but may exceed 300°C. The material is easily applied by airless spraying. However, the high temperature places very high demands on the pump, hoses, gun, operator and protective equipment. In the case of pipecoating the asphalt melt is applied by pouring (flow coating). The asphalt melt can also by applied by a brush. The surface becomes uneven and non-continuous and it is consequently necessary to remelt and smoothen with a gas flame. Rubber linings When rubber compositions are formulated correctly, rubber with exactly those prop- erties we require can be obtained. Some types are formulated to remain soft, while others become hard and more wear-resistant. Rubber is used for protection of both the interior of tanks for acids and alkalis and of the exterior of pipes in the splash zone. ‘The coating takes place in shops where the steel is first blast cleaned and then applied with a tie coat primer. This primer acts like a glue for the rubber lining itself, which is applied as “wallpaper”. The rubber is cured (vulcanized) under pressure and hot air (approximately 130-140°C) in a kind of oven, a so-called autoclave. The vulcanization may take one hour or more. For this type of linings it is extremely important that they are absolutely free from pores and similar imperfections. The linings are therefore seached for pin- holes with a high voltage pinhole tester both before and after the vulcanization. 11. Other coarines AND LININGS §=285,Water hosing and drying of rusty workpiece 7~ internal Workpiece in autoclave inspection at high temperature and . pressure f ~ Rubber wy Wis Stee! l LS Figure 11.3 Linings with rubber Metallic coatings Acommon form of corrosion protection is to coat the metal with another metal. A large number of constructions are applied with a metal coating. Daily we see crash barriers, garbage stands and lamp posts which are hot dip galvanized. In spite of extensive use of plastics in the automotive industry, nickel- or chromium-plated bumpers are sometimes still seen. The same applies to details on bicycles etc. j ‘Various methods for applying metal coatings on constructions will now be dis- cussed. Electrodeposited metal coatings Such coating can either be carried out with metals which are more noble or less noble in relation to the steel to be protected. The coating is deposited on the steel by means of current in an electrolytic cell where the electrolyte contains the coating 286 Corrosion PROTECTIONmaterial in the form of ions. Chromium and nickel are examples of metals more noble than steel. The pur- pose of such coatings is to provide a permanent and shiny surface. The steel is only protected against rusting for as long as the coating is intact and forming a barrier. It will then prevent water and air from getting into contact with the steel. If there is a hole in the coating, this may lead to accelerated corrosion (pitting corrosion) of the steel. Zinc is an example of a less noble metal. It protects the steel by the zinc becom- ing the sacrificial anode. But the electrolytic zinc coatings are thin and the protec- tion consequently poor in aggressive environments. In the standard EN 10152 concerning electrolytically zinc coated cold rolled steel flat products, four coating thicknesses, between 2.5-10 ym, have been stand- ardized. Thicknesses up to 30 im are rarely applied. The surface preparation of the steel is of paramount importance for the result. It takes place in a sequence of baths for degreasing, pickling and rinsing. After the coating process it is also common practice to carry out a chemical treatment in a bath, for example chromating. + + + Electrolyte which contains metal ions. I— Anode J sys oe ele Anode Steel Deposited metal coating Figure 11.4 Electrolytic coating Dip-spin method A few, recent methods for coating are available as alternatives to electrodeposition of zinc. The workpieces are dipped in a fluid material and spun around. Following this, they are heat-treated and cooled. The method is suitable for small parts like screws and bolts. Dacromet and Delta are the names of these coatings. In the case of the Dacromet- coating the material consists of flaked particles of zinc and aluminium in a binder which contains chromate. After 2-3 treatments thicknesses of 5-10 pm are ob- tained. In the case of the Delta-treatment a treatment is first carried out with a binder containing zinc particles, then with a purely organic coating material. On 11 OTHER COATINGS AND LININGS 287,steel a coating thickness of about 18 ym in total is used. These coatings result in a combination of a barrier effect and cathodic protec- tion. In accelerated corrosion testing in salt spray chamber the coatings have proved to perform somewhat better than electrolytic zinc. However, so far there is only little experience of how well they will perform in practice. Hot dip galvanizing Hot dip galvanizing is the designation for the process where steel is coated with zinc by being dipped in molten zinc keeping a temperature of approximately 450- 460°C. In contrast to electrodeposited zinc an electric current is not employed to apply the coating to the steel. Hot dip galvanizing is widely used for corrosion protection of steel and gener- ally provides long-life performance under atmospheric conditions. The corrosion rate of metal coatings to a very large extent depends on the surrounding environ- ment. A hot dip galvanized coating in a thickness of about 100 ym will protect the steel! in inland service for perhaps 50-100 years, while in a marine atmosphere it will last for 20-50 years. In order for the zinc to bond to the steel, it is important that the'steel is com- pletely clean. The steel is degreased in a hot alkaline solution and then rinsed in water. Mill scale and rust are removed in an acid bath (pickling), followed by rinsing with water. The steel must now be metallically clean. The remaining proc- ess is dipping in flux, preferably zinc ammonium chloride, at 40-60°C. The steel dries in an oven after fluxing and a thin layer of the flux is left on the steel surface. The heating in the molten zinc causes the salts to decompose, giving off hydrochlo- tic acid and ammonia. The hydrochloric acid is vaporized and dissolves the thin iron oxide film formed after the acid pickling. In this way the molten zinc can react with a metallically clean surface. The articles to be dipped in molten zinc require a sufficient number of perfora- tions for draining and venting in order that closed-in air does not expand and result in deformation of the article or explosions and personal injury. The size of struc- tures to be hot dip galvanized is usually limited by the size of the baths, unless double dipping is used. Both finish and thickness of the hot dip galvanized coating depend on the steel quality. The steel quality is divided into killed and unkilled steels. A Killed steel is a steel which does not develop carbon monoxide when it solidi- fies. Consequently, it remains pore-free and shrinks quite considerably as it solidi- fies. Pure carbon steel with carbon contents above approximately 0.5% and other pure steels with a high percentage of alloy elements are killed as a matter of course. Otherwise the oxygen can be removed by silicon or aluminium. Ordinary zinc coating thicknesses on so-called unkilled or aluminium-killed steel are 60-90 jim. Such steels are usually shiny and light grey. Ordinary zinc coating thicknesses of silicon-killed steel vary from approximately 100 ym to 400 ym. The coating is usually wholly or partially dark grey. The coating thickness increases with both silicon content and immersion time. 288 —CoRrROSioN PROTECTIONae) Untreated pipe Alkaline Water rinsing with paint and rust degreasing Acid pickling Fuxing ae to Drying Immersion in zine Cooling and contro! Zine lronzine alloy Steel Figure 11.5 Hot dip galvanizing Literature 1 The Engineers & Architects’ Guide to Hot Dip Galvanizing, Galvanizers Asso- ciation, Wrens Court, 56 Victoria Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B72 1SY, UK 11 OTHER COATINGS AND LININGS §289.Control questions 1 Which surface preparation methods and which primer coatings are used when we apply powder coatings to steel? 2 Explain the difference between zinc coating applied by means of electrolysis and hot dip galvanizing? 3. Which are the pros and cons of a zinc coating applied by thermal spraying compared to a hot dip galvanized coating? 290 Corrosion PROTECTION