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Coatings

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Coatings are a type of cover placed over metals to help prevent external corrosion from forming on the metals. Properly applied coatings are essential in maintaining a long useful life for structures and certain equipment. Coatings can include covers such as external paints, polymeric linings, metallic linings, and refractory linings.

Aside from general corrosion resistance, coatings can have several other uses when applied to metallic surfaces. They protect against general wear, erosion, and pitting. They can provide abrasion and scratch resistance, along with resistance to fire or heat. They are capable of sealing the metal to protect it against moist or marine environments. Finally, they can be used to insulate against electrical charges.

Coatings are most often used for the protection of materials such as concrete and steel. They’re particularly useful in the protection of pipes and others structures that are either buried underground or submerged underwater. Structures built underground tend to be particularly vulnerable to soil corrosion, which can be easily prevented using the proper coating.

One of the premier bodies dedicated to the use of industrial coatings and their application is the Society of Protective Coatings (SSPC). They create codes and standards involving coatings and offer training and certification in their use. They also provide other services as well, such as webinars, conferences, and various publications. The National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) also provides a training program involving coatings known as the Protective Coating Specialist (PCS) Program.

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Articles about Coatings
September/October 2023 Inspectioneering Journal

A case study of insulation-drying technology that reduces the wetness time of thermal insulation and pipes.

July/August 2022 Inspectioneering Journal

A case study of advanced digital technology was assessed to resolve the challenges of internal coating of small diameter pipes by accurately and rapidly measuring pipe-end dimensions, and then matching end-to-end pipes with software-based analysis.

January/February 2022 Inspectioneering Journal

This edition of Damage Control will offer practical steps to mitigate different forms of wet H2S damage and help to minimize long-term inspection and maintenance costs related to wet H2S damage.

July/August 2021 Inspectioneering Journal

Practical steps to mitigate corrosion under insulation (CUI) damage on fixed pressure equipment and commentary on common mitigation techniques and good engineering practices for external insulation or fireproofing system design and application.

Blog

This retrospective takes a quick look at two of the most popular topics that were covered in Inspectioneering Journal last year: the accuracy of thickness readings and corrosion under insulation.

Authors: Greg Alvarado
Partner Content

Traditional, paper-based inspection processes can prevent plants from being as effective as they can be. By digitalizing your mechanical integrity process and data with MISTRAS Digital®, plants have realized up to 75% gains in IDMS data entry and...

Online Article

A systematic approach is required when repairing hot-dip galvanized coatings on structural steel. This article presents a step-by-step process, starting from Surface Preparation, through Application, Inspection, and Completion-verification.

Authors: Nirmal Menon
May/June 2019 Inspectioneering Journal

Inspectioneering and PinnacleART recently hosted a roundtable discussion for a select group of mechanical integrity experts to discuss strategies for managing corrosion under insulation and corrosion under pipe supports, a.k.a. touch point corrosion.

Authors: Nick Schmoyer
July/August 2015 Inspectioneering Journal

Aboveground Storage Tanks (AST) are essential to any successful oil and gas operation and must be properly managed to ensure operations function in a safe and reliable manner. In this 2-part series, I will identify some common failures related to...

Blog

This week’s post takes up right where last week’s post left off in our discussion on Corrosion Management and Control (CM&C) Management Systems.

Authors: John Reynolds
May/June 2012 Inspectioneering Journal

Electroless nickel (ENC) is a family of coatings based on nickel-phosphorous metallic compounds. ENC was developed in 1943 by Abner Brenner, an electrochemist at the U.S. Bureau of Standards. While working on the electroplating of nickel onto...

November/December 2005 Inspectioneering Journal

A few years ago, TWI investigated a corrosion failure in a 30 inch crude oil pipeline that regrettably led to an explosion and fire, and the death of several operating personnel. The pipeline was designed to ASME B31.4 and the investigation found...

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