Organic Coatings Degradation: Laboratory Tests and Outdoor Exposure

Dear Colleagues,

The performance of organic coatings designed for corrosion protection purposes is generally assessed using accelerated test cabinets, where natural weathering is strongly exacerbated (this is done by closely controlling levels of ions, humidity, UV radiation, wet/dry time, etc.). Even if continuous neutral salt spray (e.g., ASTM B117, UNI EN ISO 9227) is still the most widespread accelerated test for painted coupons, many different international standards have been developed. These characterization procedures (which include prohesion test, UV weathering, thermal cycling, wet/dry cycling, and, in many cases, a combination) aspire to simulate, as much as possible, the real environment (though in an accelerated manner). The assessment of the degradation extent after a number of hours of exposure (or a number of aging cycles) is generally performed by visual check, image analysis, and electrochemical techniques (like DC or EIS or ENM)). Aiming at developing effective service life prediction models, the data collected by the means of accelerated test cabinets are compared with the effect of different real environments to which identical coated coupons are exposed. Field tests and outdoor exposure are ideal to properly assess the real durability of an organic coating. However, it takes a long time to gain useful information, in particular, for industrial and marine coatings. For this reason, there is a need to develop effective predictive models of the durability of organic coatings based on short-term reliable accelerated tests. To do this, a large amount of experimental data is required to implement, test, and validate the models.

This Special Issue will provide a snapshot of the state-of-the-art and the very last advances in the study of the correlations between accelerated laboratory tests and outdoor exposure to different environments.

For this reason, you are invited to contribute to this Special Issue to provide a comprehensive collection of experimental data and to update the cutting-edge modeling approach to service life prediction.

This scope of this Special Issue will include, but is not limited to, the following fundamental and applied research topics:

• Service life predictions models for organic coatings;
• New methods for the service life assessment and/or rating of organic coatings;
• Laboratory scale assessment of the degradation state of organic coatings;
• Accelerated test methods for the assessment of the performance of organic coatings;
• Outdoor aging of organic coatings;
• Comparison between the effect of different lab scale accelerated tests;
• Electrochemical methods for outdoor corrosion monitoring;
• Effect of the weathering parameters on the aging of organic coatings.

Dr. Michele Fedel
Guest Editor

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