Life Cycle Predictions for Coating Systems

Life Cycle Predictions for Coating Systems

In-service coating performance data is often collected in an effort to predict coating life expectancy and time to failure.  Having a general knowledge of coating life expectancy has many benefits such as being able to project future maintenance requirements, prioritize repairs, estimate the impact of application parameters on the coating life, and quantify the risk of deferred maintenance.  The DoD maintenance communities benefit from knowing which assets are a priority for repair as well as the performance factors influencing coating life.  Such data should also be used to asses the design of new equipment.

The following paper addresses how to use engineering data to illustrate a coating life cycle and subsequent materiel degradation.  Based on the user’s definition of failure for the asset at hand, a coating life can be defined.  This process includes looking at multiple factors that influence the degradation of coatings and the asset.