Influence of the mild steel coating application process, drying method and pigment on the surface topography

Abstract

Abstract Protecting metal surfaces with organic coatings is one of the most common ways of corrosion protection. The main goal of coating is to insulate the base of the material from the corrosive environment in order to provide long lasting protection. The aim of this research is to show how different coating applications in combination with different drying methods affect the coating surface topography. Two different two-component primers were also observed, one containing zinc in its chemical composition and the other one not, to see if zinc had any effect on the surface topography. The surface topography of coatings is examined by the atomic force microscope. At the nano level, the surface condition is quantitatively described by areal topography parameters, also known as 3D roughness parameters. An accelerated laboratory test in the salt spray chamber was performed to compare topography parameters and evaluate which coating system had the slightest differences in observed parameters before and after exposure to a corrosive environment. All the results were statistically processed and presented.