A chemical plant request Optimiza’s consulting and laboratory services. This picture is one of the collected and analysed samples in this specific case.

  • Title of the case: industrial painting. Bubbles under the blue sea.
  • Environment: industrial plant. C4. ISO 12944-2.
  • Initial diagram of coatings: 2 x 50micron epoxy polyamide coating and 1 x 60micron aliphatic polyurethane finish.
  • Time between applying the coating and the detection of failure: two months.
  • Visual failure detected on the surface: Crow’s foot and discolouration in the finish coat.
  • Cohesive failure in topcoat and adhesive failure between intermediate and top coat. Extension of failure: 450m2.

Findings, study and conclusions. Main cause of failure:

Non-compliance with the project specification with inadequate thickness, incomplete curing of the system, incorrect use of thinners in the intermediate coat and failure to respect the re-painting intervals between coats. Topcoat applied in two coats with contamination between them.