Accelerated ageing of organic coating systems by thermal treatment

The accelerated laboratory ageing of coated steel by multiple thermal shock has been proposed. Three polyvinyl coated steel panels exposed to natural weathering for different periods (0, 3 and 6 years) were thermally treated from temperatures of 20-65 degreesC. A new epoxy coating for tank protectio n was treated by multiple thermal shock. Observed changes were interpreted as a protective system degradation and explained on the basis of analysis o f stresses within the coating system. It was concluded that the proposed pr ocedure allows to distinguish the performance of different coatings in a sh orter time compared to traditional laboratory exposition. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.