Performance characteristics of protective coatings under low-temperature offshore conditions. Part 1: Experimental set-up and corrosion protection performance

Six organic coating systems are investigated according to their performance under Arctic offshore conditions. Four performance groups are considered: corrosion protection performance, performance under mechanical loads, surface status and icing performance. The investigations involve the following tests: accelerated corrosion protection/ageing tests, tests for coating adhesion, hoarfrost accretion measurements, impact resistance tests, abrasion tests, and wettability tests. The test conditions are adapted to Arctic offshore conditions, which mainly cover low temperatures down to − 60 °C. A testing facility for hoarfrost performance tests is developed. The coating systems are organic coating systems which differ in generic coating material, hardener, number of layers, dry film thickness and application method. Part 1 describes the testing programme and discusses the results of the corrosion protection performance tests. Part 2 discusses the results of the surface topography measurements, wettability assessment, hoarfrost formation and mechanical testing. A procedure for the ranking of the coating performance is developed. The best performing system in the scope of evaluation is a three-layer system with high thickness (1400 μm), consisting of two glass-flake reinforced epoxy coats and a polyurethane topcoat.