Adequate pretreatment of steel surface is essential for performance of protective coating system. Among many surface pretreatment methods, Sa 2.5 grade of “Near White Grit Blast Cleaning” is the most widely used. The downside of the grit blast cleaning is the complexity of the process, which limits the accessibility. As an alternative, power tooling has been increasingly used for surface treatment of marine vessels and offshore structures. It has been known, however, that the conventional power tooling provides less favorable result than the grit blasting.

In this study, several power tooling methods were evaluated regarding their effectiveness with a purpose of finding the one capable of yielding the quality close to grit blast cleaning. Total of 4 different surface preparation processes (1 grit blast cleaning and 3 different power tooling) were selected and each was evaluated in terms of resultant surface profile, subsequent coatings qualities including long term corrosion resistance, and other pros and cons. The results indicated that it was plausible to come up with a certain power tooling, capable of providing an almost equivalent to grit blasting.

Subject
Abrasive blasting, Power tools, Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Coating performance, Coatings, Surface preparation, Coating adhesion, Rust, Surface preparation methods, Immersion, Surface profile, Corrosion resistance, Barrier coatings
Keywords:
Protective Coatings, Surface preparation, Blast & power tool cleaning, Surface profile
© 2005 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2005
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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