CORROSION PROTECTION EVALUATION

OF SOME ORGANIC COATINGS IN

WATER TRANSMISSION LINES1
Anees U. Malik, Shahreer Ahmad, Ismail Andijani
Fahad Al-Muaili, T.L. Prakash and John OHara
Research & Development Center,
Saline Water Conversion Corporation
P.O. Box # 8328, Al-Jubail 31951, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
SUMMARY
As an alternative to cementitious materials, organic polymeric materials have long
been
considered for pipe coatings. This is due to their good corrosion resistance,
imperviousity to
water/air, resistant to salinity, immunity to large variations in pH and chemical
and physical
stabilities at moderately high temperatures. Keeping in view the viability of
organic coatings
as promising area of water research, a project proposal entitled Corrosion
Protection
Evaluation of Some Organic Coatings in Water Transmission Lines was formulated
by the
Corrosion Department of R&D Center, Al-Jubail which was subsequently sponsored
and
funded by King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) as a one year
short
project.
The project encompasses short and long terms testing of three types of organic
coatings, viz.,
polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PU) and fusion bonded epoxy (FBE) on steel in
order to
determine the corrosion behavior in aqueous environment with special reference
to product
water. The work of the project was divided into seven tasks, namely, Task-I:
literature survey,
Task-2 : establishment of facilities, Task-3: mechanical testing, Task-4 : wet tests,
Task-5:
impedance studies, and task-6: data analysis and report preparation. Coating
materials,
namely, FBE-Scotchkote-206N, PUAqualine-600A, PU-Irathane-155 and 3 layer PE
were
used for the studies. Wet tests consisting of salt fog, autoclave and close circuit
corrosion
loop were carried out to study the corrosion behavior of coating, water uptake or
permeation
1

Issued as Technical Report No. TR 3804/APP 95009 in November 1999.

1966

and stability of coating under high temperature and pressure. The mechanical
testing
consisted of adhesion, bending and cathodic disbonding tests provided
information about the
adhesivity or bonding of the coating to the substrate, resistance to cracking,
disbonding,
delamination or other mechanical damage as a result of bending. Cathodic
disbondment test
provides adhesion assessment and determines resistance of the coating to C.P
and current
flow. AC impedance measurements evaluate quantitatively the water uptake by
the coatings
and non-destructive determination of cathodic disbondment.
The results of accelerated tests (salt fog tests) showed that in the scribed-coated
samples, the
creepage increases with increasing exposure time. FBE, 3 layer PE and Irathane155 (PU)
show no blistering after 100 days exposure in salt spray cabinet but Aqualine600A (PU)
show blistering on scribed and unscribed surfaces. Autoclave tests were carried
out to
determine the behavior of coatings under high temperature and pressure. The
results of the
tests indicate that FBE, Aqualine-600A and 3 layer PE coatings are quite resistant
to waters
at 40 oC and 1500 psi but Irathane155 shows decrease in thickness in liquid as
well as vapor
phases and also exhibits slight decoloration, swelling and texture appearance in
both phases.
This is an indication of degradation of Irathane-155 in water under high
temperature