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Adhesion Behavior of Polyurea Coating on Mild

Steel

Article in International Journal of Applied Engineering Research · January 2015

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research
ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 10, Number 1 (2015) pp. 1143-1149
© Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com

Adhesion Behavior of Polyurea Coating on Mild Steel

a b
Arunkumar.T , S.Ramachandran
a
Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Sathyabama University, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
b
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama University,
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
a
E-mail address: arunmailinbox@gmail.com

Abstract

Adhesion is one of attractive mechanical properties which predict the strength

of coating after fabrication process. This paper deals with the adhesion
behavior of Polyurea coating for various applications such as automotive,
marine, pipelines, aircrafts. The modified Polyurea is coated on mild steel by
using mechanical purge spray gun at high pressure. It is used to overcome the
initial problems of this technology such as substrate wetting, inter coating
adhesion and surface finish quality. The experimental work involves various
testing like scratch test, bonding test and bend test for different coating
thicknesses. After the testing, specimens are examined by microscopic
analysis for internal cracks and breakage.

Keywords: Modified Polyurea, Adhesion, Scratch Test, Bond Test, Bend

Test.

Introduction
Mechanical deformation of the coated metal substrate causes degradation of adhesive
properties of metal- polymer coating interface. Adhesion plays a crucial role in
characterizing the polymer coatings used in Marine [1], automobile, aerospace and
medical applications [2]. A Polyurea coating is the product formed by a single-step
reaction between an isocyanate component and an amine-terminated resin [3]. The
isocyanate can be monomer based, a prepolymer, a polymer or a blend [4, 5]. It has very
high-strength and low weight characteristics.
In this study modified Polyurea is analysed for its adhesive behavior towards
metal substrate. Using modified Polyurea, the relaxation time for metal coating during
the initial curing of the coating can be enhanced which in turn reduces stress and
1144 Arunkumar.T , S.Ramachandran

deformation, resulting in improved adhesion within a short span [4]. Polyurea is coated
on mild steel using pneumatic spray gun. Polyurea Spray Gun uses impingement-
mixing technology [6] to mix the chemicals inside the gun. If the reacted materials are
not expelled from the gun after the trigger is released, the material will be harden at
inside the gun, making it non-usable. In order to reduce the problem of hardening,
Mechanical purge is used which serves two functions in a spray gun. A valve rod is
set inside the mixing chamber of the gun. When the gun is not triggered, the valve rod
remains static and closes of the two chemical ports. When the gun is triggered, the
valve rod withdraws and opens up the two chemical ports to mix and spray. Once the
two materials come together inside the gun to mix, they react immediately as they mix
and exit the spray gun. The coated mild steel is tested for its adhesion behavior using
tests like scratch test, bond test and bend test. After carrying out mechanical testing,
the samples are analysed for any internal cracks by examining it under microscope.

Experimental Work
AISI 1018 mild steel is used as base metal which has a good balance of toughness,
strength ductility and higher mechanical properties. Mild steel grade 1018 is cost
effective compared to other metals, hence mild steel 1018 are used as the base metal
for all the testing done in this study. The mild steel sheet is cut into different sizes as
per ASTM standards using Laser cutting operation. The power of 1000 W is
maintained and cutting speed is set at 3.5 m/s for 3mm thickness.
The modified Polyurea with three different thicknesses (1mm, 2mm, 3mm) is then
coated on prepared substrate by mechanical purge spray gun. The pressure of spray
gun is maintained at 2500 psi (17.236 N/mm²) and kept at a constant distance of 50
mm from the sample. Adhesion tests were carried out by following tests:

A. Scratch test
Constant loading Scratch test (ASTM D7027) is used to obtain the critical loads that
are related to adhesion properties of the coating. This test method uses an
instrumented scratch machine to produce and quantify surface damage under
controlled conditions. It characterizes the scratch resistance of polymers by measuring
many significant material parameters. The scratch inducing and data acquisition
process is automated to avoid user-influenced effects that may affect the results. The
values stated in SI units are regarded as standard. According to ASTM standards, it is
characterized in ASTM D7027 - 13 (Standard Test Method for Evaluation of Scratch
Resistance of Polymeric Coatings and Plastics using an Instrumented Scratch
Machine).

B. Bonding Test
This test method is used to determine the bonding strength of a coating to a substrate.
In this test one face of substrate fixture is coated and bonded with another face of
loading fixture. This assembly of coating and fixture is subjected to a tensile load
normal to the coating plane. According to ASTM standards this test is characterized in
Adhesion Behavior of Polyurea Coating on Mild Steel 1145

ASTM C633 – 13 Standard Test Method for Adhesion or Cohesion Strength of

Thermal Spray Coatings.

C. Bend Test
The bend test is used for determining how easily a metal can bend without breaking.
When ductility of a metal is higher, metal bends without breaking or gets deformed
from its original shape [7]. To perform a bend test, a specific sheet or strip of metal is
bent by a predetermined amount. After the bend is made, the metal is carefully
examined to check any breaks or cracks occurred in the piece and the tester notes
whether the metal broke along or against the grain. According to ASTM standards
bend is characterized in ASTM D4145 – 10(Standard Test Method for Coating
Flexibility of coated Sheet).

Results And Discussions

A. Scratch Test
The scratch test was carried out for all coating thickness (1mm, 2mm and 3mm).
Specimen of size: 50mm x 50mm. initially a load of 0.2 kg is applied on the surface
of Polyurea using a diamond tipped intender and made to move at a constant speed for
14 mm. The load was incremented till Polyurea layer was fully cut and metal
substrate was visible or the intender was not able to move through the Polyurea
coating. For 1 mm thick coating the load was incremented till 4.5 kg where the
Polyurea coating was cut and metal surface was seen fig.1 (a). Hence for 1 mm thick
coating the critical load is given as 4.5 kg. For 2 mm and 3 mm thick coating a scratch
of 14 mm length were made for loads of 0.2 kg, 0.3 kg, and 0.5 kg as shown in fig.1
(b) and fig.1(c). But for load of 0.6 kg the intender did not move. Hence subsequent
loads were not tested for these samples. The scratch resistance property of Polyurea is
observed to be very high and it increases with increase in coating thickness.

(a) (b)
1146 Arunkumar.T , S.Ramachandran

(c)
Fig.1: Microscopic Image after Scratch for
(a) 1 mm Thick Coating with Given Loads.
(b) 2 mm Thick Coating with Given Loads.
(c) 3 mm Thick Coating with Given Loads.

B. Bonding Test
For bonding test the load VS displacement graph is plotted using tensile testing
machine Fig.2 (a, b, c). The critical load is the load at which the Polyurea layer breaks
its bonding between the metal surfaces. Bonding test is carried for 3 different coating
thicknesses. The specimen dimensions are 50 mm x 50mm. for calculations the area
under which the load is acted is taken as 50 x 50= 2500 mm2.

(a)

(b)
Adhesion Behavior of Polyurea Coating on Mild Steel 1147

(c)
Fig.2: Load vs. Displacement Plot for (a) 1 mm Thick Coating.
(b) 1 mm Thick Coating
(c) 1 mm Thick Coating

Bonding strength per unit area is given by the ratio of critical load and surface
area of specimen. The critical load is the load at which the graph shows a horizontal
line parallel to the displacement axis. This is the load at which the bond between the
Polyurea layer and steel breaks. The bond strength for various thicknesses is
illustrated in Fig.3.

2 1.879
Bonding Strength

1.439
1.5
((N/mm2 )

1.079
1

0.5

0
1 2 3

Coating Thickness (mm)

Fig.3: Bonding Strength Represented In Chart Format

From the above table it can be categorically concluded that with increase in
coating thickness the bonding strength between the coating and metal substrate
reduces. A minimum bonding strength of 2.068 N/mm2(300psi) is required for the
layer to be intact with the metal surface under application of load. Hence for
application of Polyurea a strong adhesive primer has to be applied on the substrate
layer before the spraying the Polyurea layer. This increases the bonding strength
between substrate and Polyurea.
1148 Arunkumar.T , S.Ramachandran

C. Bend Test
Bend test was carried out in tensile testing machine with a 3 point tool as base.
Specimen dimensions are taken as 12.5 mm x 100 mm. Testing was done for 3
different coating thicknesses. A typical Bend Test machine is shown in Fig.4.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
Fig.4 (a): Experimental Set-Up for Bend Test.
Fig.4 (b): Cross-Sectional Microscopic Image of 1 mm Thick Coating after Bend Test.
Fig.4 (c): Cross-Sectional Microscopic Image of 2 mm Thick Coating after Bend Test.
Fig.4 (d): Cross-Sectional Microscopic Image of 3 mm Thick Coating after Bend Test.

The adhesion property varies with coating thickness as shown in Figures 4(b) 4(c)
4(d). The 3 mm coating layer peeled off from the metal, inferring that bond strength
could not withstand the elongation force that is acted. But for 1 mm and 2 mm coating
thicknesses the layer elongates to a large extent, that the thickness at bend section has
reduced almost 50 percent. This elongation justifies the reinforcing nature of Polyurea
provided proper bonding is achieved between coating and metal. During deformation
of metal substrate the Polyurea coating gives an additional impact resistance, by the
phenomenon called sweep back effect. After a certain point of impact, the Polyurea
coating exert a force opposite to impact force due to high elongation. This spring back
effect increases when thickness of coating increases.
Adhesion Behavior of Polyurea Coating on Mild Steel 1149

Conclusions
Polyurea layer was found to enhance the gradual impact resistance of steel plates were
applied to surface of mild steel. In this project, three different thicknesses (1mm, 2mm
and 3mm) of Polyurea coatings were applied to the surface of mild steel plates and
investigated. Polyurea coatings were found to reduce the deformation of plates under
gradual impact [8]. Thickest coating of 3mm was found to be a maximum enhancer of
the gradual impact resistance and 1mm thick coating was found to be the least
enhancer of the gradual impact resistance. In addition, the Polyurea layer was found
to be highly scratch resistant for all coating thickness. However the bonding strength
of Polyurea layer was found to be below specified standard. The maximum bonding
strength was found to be 1.87 N/mm2 for 1mm thick coating. Hence, in terms of
bonding strength, either the Polyurea has to be modified or primer coating has to be
applied in between the steel and Polyurea layer for increasing the bonding strength
[9]. As a whole, the experimental results suggest that the Polyurea can have a
significant effect on the response of the steel plate to loads acting on the metal
substrate.

References
[1] Glen Smith, “Bond Characteristics and Qualifications of Adhesives for Marine
Applications and Steel Pipe Repair”.
[2] Bizan N. Balzer, “Adhesion Property Profiles of Supported Thin Polymer
Films”, June 5, 2013.
[3] Ward I.M and Hadley D.W. (1993) “An introduction to the mechanical
properties of solid polymers”. J. Wiley & Sons, pp. 334 -339.
[4] Mark Broekaert, “Polyurea spray coatings”, Huntsman Polyurethanes.
[5] Marc Broekaert, Huntsman Polyurethanes, “Modified MDI-prepolymers
improve the initial physical properties and reduce the 'in-service' time of
aromatic polyurea coatings.”
[6] Dieter G.E. (1988), “Mechanical metallurgy”, SI metric edition, McGraw-Hill,
ISBN 0-07-100406-8.pp. 56-70.
[7] Primeaux I and Etal D.J. (1989), “Spray Polyurea – Versatile High
Performance Elastomer for the Polyurethane Industry”, Polyurethanes ’89, the
32nd Technical/Marketing Conference, SPI, San Francisco, California, pp.
126-130.
[8] Riefsnider K. L., Schulte K. and Duke J. C. (1983), “Long term failure
behavior of composite materials”, ASTM Special Technical Publications, 813,
pp.136–159.
[9] Brown E.N, Sottos N.R. and White S.R. (2002), “Fracture Testing of a Self-
healing Polymer Composite”, Experimental Mechanics, 42(4): pp. 372-379
 1150 Arunkumar.T , S.Ramachandran

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