Field joint coating of pipelines – effect of soluble salt contamination on 2-layer heat shrink sleeve performance

Abstract

Purpose – During offshore pipe-lay, pipe lengths with anticorrosion coating are welded together, and, to facilitate the welding process, the ends of the pipe remain uncoated. A wide range of field joint coating (FJC) types is available for coating this bare section, functioning in conjunction with the pipeline cathodic protection system to provide an anti-corrosion system or package. This paper aims to relate to two-layer type heat shrink sleeves (2LHSS), which commonly are used for FJC of concrete-weighted offshore pipelines where the sleeve typically is over-coated with a solid or foam type polyurethane “infill”. Similar sleeves also are used sometimes in exposed conditions on lines without concrete over-coating. The maximum allowable soluble salt contamination prior to application of high-performance coating systems can vary, depending upon the coating type, but typically has been set at 20 mg/m2 (de la Fuente et al., 2006). The first layer of three-layer heat shrink sleeve (3LHSS) systems for pipeline...