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Welcome Welcome to the Autumn edition of our newsletter.

We are also pleased to announce the opening of our new northern o ce in Newton Aycli e,Darlington. Our northern region is being headed up by Keith Wagner one of our senior inspec-tors, who joined us earlier this year. Joining the northern team we welcome Carl Johnson who was previously working for Sever eld as site inspector, and Andrew Peters who has left MCL to join us bringing with him years of shop inspection work, both are level inspectors and pro- vide new dynamics to an already very experienced team. In the south the we have new teammembers, Jason McKinless level inspector specialising in rope access work. Jason has been working on a renewable energy project o shore. Andrew Herne has joined us as full timeICATS trainer, and Maria who will be looking after the co -ordination of the ICATS school, ourtraining school is not only busy full time but we have also been approached to be the sole pro- vider of supervisor training.

We have also had some tremendous project awards and currently have full time inspectors onsuch projects as , Waterloo International Station, Ouseburn Viaduct, Penshaw Bridge &EastCroydon Station to name but a few. We have also used the strength within our inspection teamand embarked on one of our rst projects and major surveys in the renewable energy sector.Paint Inspection Ltd is already generating interest in far away lands with enquiries comingfrom China and Asia Paci c. The picture on the front page is of the La Collette waste facilitybased in Jersey which after nearly a year and under the watchful eye of Paint Inspection hasnow been completed and handed back to Camerons.

We also have some great news in terms of ISO and CHAS assessment.

All in All Paint Inspection Ltd is going from strength to strength

I hope you enjoy the newsletter and if you have any comments please dont hesitate to contactus at admin@paint -inspection.co.uk.

Andrew Patterson Director/ ICorr 3

This Issue

Welcome P.1 Our Services P.1

Thermal Metal Spray & PinholesP.2 ICATS Training & Q&A P.3

ISO 9001 P.3

Our Services &Quali ca ons

Services

Coa ngs Condi on Surveys Pain ng Works Inspec on

Speci ca on Wri ng

Project Consultancy

Paint Sampling & Analysis

Failure Analysis

Project Management & Support

Quali ca ons

All of our inspectors are ICorr / NACE quali edand have many years experience our range ofcer cates include:

ICorr/NACE level 2 or 3 Inspectors

Con ned Space Tickets

LUL Entry Permits

PTS Cards

NEBOSH

BOSIET

IRATA Rope Access

CHAS Approved

ISO 9001 Accredited

Achilles LINK UP Approved

Ins tute of corrosion sustaining member

Paint Inspec on Ltd Quarterly Newsle er Edi on 3

Autumn 2012

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Technical Advice

Thermal Metal Spray What is it?

Thermal Metal Spray (TMS) is a processin which melted (or heated) materialsare sprayed onto a surface. The coatingprecursor (feedstock) is heated by elec-trical (plasma or arc) or chemical means(combustion ame).

Thermal spraying can provide thick coat-ings (approx. thickness range is 20m to

several mm, depending on the processand feedstock), over a large area at highdeposition rate.

Coating materials available for thermalspraying include zinc or aluminium.They are fed in wire form, heated to amolten or semi -molten state and acceler-ated towards substrates in the form ofmicrometer -size particles.

Combustion or electrical arc discharge isusually used as the source of energy for

thermal spraying. Resulting coatings aremade by the accumulation of numeroussprayed particles.

Coating quality is usually assessed visu-ally as well as dry lm thickness checksto check adherence to the required speci-

cation.

The bene ts are great creating increasedprotection against corrosion, althoughthere are some issues arising from TMSand the next article highlights one inparticular and what causes it.

Thermal Metal Spray & Pinholing

TMS & Pinholing

Why Does It Happen?

We as a company have often come acrosspin holing when we have been asked to in-spect defective paintwork that have had aThermal Metal Spray Application. Depend-

ing on which coats are a ected the answerscan be varied from paint induction time notbeing taken into account to over coatingtimes being ignored with solvent attempt-ing to release itself through coating lms, ifhowever the pin holes go back as far at themetal spray itself the perhaps the best ex-planation would be as follows:

Metal spray consists of molten metal which

is coarsely atomised and projected at thesurface by compressed air. The globules ofmolten metal do not form a continuous

lm, but a porous matrix of fused particles. The porosity can vary enormously depend-ing upon the technique of the applicatorand the method used (gas, arc etc).

Standard practise is to apply a thin coat ofpaint (Tie/Sealer) over the metal spray, in

order to ll the voids between the particles without leaving an over layer on top of themetal spray. This has a two -fold action -

1) To prevent moisture being ab-sorbed by the porous matrix whichcould cause rust rashing if waterreaches the substrate before the pro-tective salting mechanism of the met-al spray can kick in. 2) To allow application of high buildcoatings over the metal spray.

If a high build coating is applied di-

rectly onto an unsealed, or improp-erly sealed metal spray substrate, thesolvent from this coating will be ab-sorbed into the porous matrix by ca-pillary action. As the paint lm startsto cure, it will e ectively seal in thisabsorbed solvent, which will eventu-ally start to vapourise and try to workits way out through the solidifyinghigh build lm above it.

In the early stages of cure, the solvent vapours will di use out and the paintlm will ow back into place; howev-

er as the lm cures, the escaping sol- vent vapour will either form a bubbleat the top of the lm, or if the bubblepops, the paint lm will be too farcured to ow back, and a blow hole will be left where the solvent haspushed its way out (i.e. a pinhole). Painting over a pinhole will not ll ite ectively, as any subsequent coats will either follow the contours of thepinhole and sink into it, or else they will bridge the top of the pinhole, andshrink back as they cure up, which will leave a crater, or the top coat maypull back due to its surface tension, re-exposing the pinhole. For these reasons, once a high buildcoat has pinholed, the only solution isto remove it back to the metal spray,and re -seal the a ected areas."

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ICATS Training News

ISO 9001 & CHAS Assessment

Paint Inspection Ltd are proud to have gained ISO 9001 Certi cationproving that the Quality Management System employed within ourBusiness is of a very high standard, giving our customers the best possi-

ble service at all times.

Adding to our growing list of accolades we have been assessed as Com-pliant by CHAS and Paint Inspection Ltd are now Registered in theCHAS scheme. We are now awaiting our Accredited CHAS Certi cate.

Melissa Borthwick, Company Secretary

With the increased popularity of our ICATS Training facility, Paint Inspection Ltd would like to welcome two new members to our team.

Andy Herne has over twenty years experience in the industrial painting industry and is a quali ed trainer for the ICATS scheme. Andy has joined us asfull time member of our training school, bringing a huge amount of experience and understanding to our already popular service.

Maria Patterson has joined us as a training co -ordinator liaising with customers and arranging courses at our facility and at various locations for on -

ite training if clients prefer this option .

Melissa Borthwick, Company Secretary

or information on how we can help train operatives, or the availability of ICATS certi ed personnel then please feel free to contact Maria on

Tel 023 93233147 or e-mail maria@paint -inspection.co.uk

How do I avoid the above issues?

Ultimately the best way to avoid failures is to follow a fewgolden rules:

SurveyHave the asset surveyed this can also reducecommercial issues during the works programme. ASurvey can generally cover a number of issues from theabove from ascertaining the substrate condition topreparation needed to helping specify the right system

for the service life it is intended.

Pre start consultingThis service helps make sure thatall possible commercial areas are covered and that thespeci cation being presented is t for purpose and thatall parties concerned have a clear understanding of what is required

TrialsThis helps set the bar for all concerned. With allparties present when the test panels are completedthere is no ambiguity about what is required, what isimportant here is having a quali ed inspector who willoversee the project present.

InspectionThe most important piece in the jigsaw without exception. This makes sure that everything thathas been agreed is adhered to, surface cleanliness andpro le as well as application are observed and reportedon. This will potentially solve most issue in any failure.

Q & A What are the primary causes of a coatings failure?

The majority of paint and coating related failures can be attributed to six primary causes:

1. Improper surface preparation The substrate has not been adequately prepared for painting. This may include cleaning, chemical pre -treatment or surface pro le.

. Improper Coatings Selection Either the or coating selected is not suitable for the intended service environment, or is not compatible with the substrate surface.

3. Improper ApplicationThis can be a problem with either shop applied or eld applied coatings, and occurs when the required speci ca-tions or parameters for the application are not met

4. Improper Drying , Curing, and Over Coating TimesAgain this problem relates to the lack of conformance to the required speci cationand parameters, ultimately all of the data required would be on the material data sheet supplied by the coating manufacturer.

5. Lack Of Protection Against Water & Aqueous SolutionsThis is a particularly serious problem with aqueous systems containing corrosivecompounds such as chlorides.

6.

Mechanical Damage These result from improper handling of the painted or coated substrate, this damage can ultimately result in abreach of the protective system.