COATINGS FAILURES IN PLANTS AND INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS

Protective paintwork is an important item in construction and maintenance operations in industrial plants. A properly selected and applied coating system will reduce the rate of corrosion and therefore the costs associated with corrosion. In industrial plants, coating failures may occur if incorrect coating material is used or the materials are poorly applied. Coating failures may appear during application, during drying/curing, or after a certain period of service life. There are many reasons why coatings fail and it requires a lot of experience to find the exact cause. In this paper, case studies of coating failures that were experienced in industrial plants will be presented showing how the varied causes of failure were established as well as the remedial actions that were undertaken. The goal is to demonstrate how to specify the most cost effective coating systems and application procedure for various requirements in plants.