In order to meet the requirements of Sea Power 21, the Navy is designing and building a variety of high speed ships and craft.  Aluminum alloys are likely candidates as the choice for hull and structural materials due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, fabricability, cost, and availability.  These aluminum alloys will require coatings to minimize corrosion and maximize life cycle performance.  The objective of this task is to continue to develop a thorough understanding of surface preparation factors that contribute to adhersion between aluminum alloys and the Navy's advanced high solids and ultra-high solids anticorrosive coating systems.  The primary factor to investigate include:

• Surface profile morphology - evaluate the impact of aluminum alloy surface morphology (peak density, shape, and height)  on the performance of Navy coatings using metallograpic techniques and cathodic disbondment testing.

The report is in process currently.