Coatings Failures in Plants and Industrial Environment

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 it is poorly applied. These failures may appear during application, at curing/drying stage before the equipment is put into service, 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 many industrial plants will be presented showing how the varied causes of failure were established and 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.