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Practical technical guidance on protective coatings, inspection, testing, standards and common coating problems — written from real inspection experience.
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TECHNICAL GUIDANCE
Technical guidance from people who inspect coatings in the real world.
Protective coating standards and specifications can be complex. Our Technical Knowledge centre explains important inspection methods, testing requirements and coating issues in clear, practical terms. The content is intended to help asset owners, engineers, contractors and coating professionals better understand the technical issues that affect coating performance.
Featured technical guidance.
Surface Preparation / Testing
Soluble Salt Testing: Why Testing Before Coating Matters
Water-soluble salts can remain on steel even after apparently thorough surface preparation. If they are not identified and adequately controlled before coating application, they can contribute to corrosion, osmotic blistering and premature coating failure.
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Dry Film Thickness / Standards
ISO 19840: Understanding Surface Profile Correction and DFT Measurement
Measuring dry film thickness on abrasive blast-cleaned steel is not the same as measuring a coating on a smooth surface. ISO 19840 provides a method for accounting for the influence of surface roughness when verifying coating thickness against the specified nominal dry film thickness.
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Adhesion Testing
ASTM D4541 vs ASTM D3359: Choosing the Appropriate Adhesion Test
ASTM D4541 and ASTM D3359 are both widely referenced when assessing coating adhesion, but they evaluate coating performance in fundamentally different ways. Understanding those differences is important when selecting an appropriate test method, particularly for high-build protective coating systems.
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Explore technical topics.
SURFACE PREPARATION
COATING INSPECTION
Environmental conditions
Wet film thickness
Holiday testing
Inspection Test Plans
Final acceptance
TESTING & ANALYSIS
Coating thickness analysis
PROTECTIVE COATING SYSTEMS
Zinc silicate coatings
Epoxy systems
Maintenance coating systems
Overcoating existing systems
STANDARDS & SPECIFICATIONS
ISO
ASTM
AMPP/NACE
Network Rail requirements
Client specifications
Latest technical articles.
Surface Preparation / Testing
Water-soluble salts can remain on steel even after apparently thorough surface preparation. If they are not identified and adequately controlled before coating application, they can contribute to corrosion, osmotic blistering and premature coating failure.
Dry Film Thickness / Standards
Measuring dry film thickness on abrasive blast-cleaned steel is not the same as measuring a coating on a smooth surface. ISO 19840 provides a method for accounting for the influence of surface roughness when verifying coating thickness against the specified nominal dry film thickness.
Adhesion Testing
ASTM D4541 and ASTM D3359 are both widely referenced when assessing coating adhesion, but they evaluate coating performance in fundamentally different ways. Understanding those differences is important when selecting an appropriate test method, particularly for high-build protective coating systems.
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