Salt spray tests coatings

Product Utilization. The principal appHcation for chromium phosphate coatings is as a paint base for painted aluminum extmsions and aluminum beverage can stock. In these appHcations, extremely demanding performance criteria are met by the chromium phosphate conversion coatings. As an example, the Architectural Aluminum Manufacturer s Association Voluntary Specification 605.2-92 requires humidity and salt spray testing for 3000 hours and allows only minimal incidence of paint failure after testing (26). 

Sa.lt Spray Tests. One of the older accelerated corrosion tests is the salt spray test (40). Several modifications of this imperfect test have been proposed, some of which are even specified for particular appHcations. The neutral salt spray test persists, however, especially for coatings that are anodic to the substrate and for coatings that are dissolved or attacked by neutral salt fog. For cathodic coatings, such as nickel on steel, the test becomes a porosity test, because nickel is not attacked by neutral salt fog. Production specifications that call for 1000 hours salt spray resistance are not practical for quahty acceptance tests. In these cases, the neutral salt spray does not qualify as an accelerated test, and faster results from different test methods should be sought. 

The reproducibility of test results between labs using the neutral salt spray tests has not been consistent, but the repeatability, within one lab, is better, and the test has value in comparing variations in coating systems. Correlation of hours of exposure in the salt spray test to actual performance of the plated part in service, even in marine atmospheres, is not consistent and usually avoided. A classic example is that cadmium deposits outlast zinc deposits on steel in salt spray tests and clean marine atmospheres, yet zinc outlasts cadmium when exposed to real, industrial atmospheres, because of the presence of sulfur-bearing corrodents in industrial environments. An important variable in salt spray testing is the position of the surface to be tested. Whereas the surface of test panels is specified to be 15—30° from the vertical (40), when salt spray testing chromated zinc-plated specimens, this range has appeared excessive (41). 

Even small traces of certain corrosion stimulants, notably soluble chlorides and sulphates, can maintain a continuing corrosion process under a paint film because the salts accelerate the initial dissolution of ferrous iron (and other metal ions) but are not immobilised in the hydrated oxide corrosion products. Filiform corrosion is the most spectacular example of this phenomenon, but progressive spread, preceded by blistering, is also observed from scratches or other breaks in a coating, for example during salt spray tests. 

The most widely used accelerated tests are based on salt spray, and are covered by several Government Specifications. BS 1391 1952 (recently withdrawn) gives details of a hand-atomiser salt-spray test which employs synthetic sea-water and also of a sulphur-dioxide corrosion test. A continuous salt-spray test is described in ASTM B 117-61 and BS AU 148 Part 2(1969). Phosphate coatings are occasionally tested by continuous salt spray without a sealing oil film and are expected to withstand one or two hours spray without showing signs of rust the value of such a test in cases where sealing is normally undertaken is extremely doubtful. 

The main value of salt-spray tests is in the evaluation of the effectiveness of phosphate coatings in restricting the spread of rust from scratches or other points of damage in a paint film. This feature is of particular interest to the motorcar industry, as vehicles are often exposed to marine atmospheres and to moisture and salt when the latter is used to disperse ice and frost from road surfaces. Great care is needed in the interpretation of a salt-spray test, as it has been found to favour thin iron phosphate coatings more than is justified by experience with natural weathering. In the motorcar industry the present custom is to use zinc phosphate coatings on the car bodies and all other parts exposed to the outside atmosphere. 

Table 15.13. This specification follows good industrial practice, with additional safeguards in rinsing to remove residues to treatment solutions. Nonaccelerated treatments must be followed by a single rinse which may contain chromate accelerated treatments must be followed by three rinses—cold water, hot water and a final chromate rinse. Table 15.14 shows the salt-spray test requirements for phosphate coatings with various finishes without formation of rust the paints and lacquer have the additional requirement that no rust shall be visible beyond 0-2 in (5 mm) from the deliberate scratches and no blistering, lifting or flaking beyond 0-05 in (1-27 mm) from the original boundaries of the scratches.

The American Aeronautical Material Specification AMS 2480 A calls for 150h salt-spray test without rusting extending more than 0-125 in (3-175 mm) on either side of scratch marks, using a black enamel finish for the phosphate coating. 

The solution was applied to the surface of cold-rolled steel, dip-galvanized steel sheet, and aluminum strip for degreasing and passivating in a single operation at 40°C for 90 s. The surfaces were then lacquered (85-100 pm thickness) and tested in a salt-spray test for 480 h without showing subsurface migration and blistering. The method is especially useful in the automobile industry for coated sheet [191]. 

Simplicity and reliability of operation make AC impedance measurements attractive as a technique in the evaluation of coating integrity. As opposed to classical salt spray test, analysis times are shorter with the AC impedance technique and quantitative data are obtained permitting relevant mechanistic Information to be derived. Impedance test methods are likely to find many applications in the resolution of unsolved practical problems ( .) ... 

Thus it appears that by incorporating parameters such as pore resistance and coating capacitance to the existing theoretical impedance model dealing with metal dissolution one would obtain valuable overall information (14,27). Complemented by results from regular immersion and salt spray tests it should be possible to find satisfactory solutions to corrosion problems of coated metals (9 ). 

Coated specimens were placed in an electrochemical cell. After 4 hours of temperature, open-circuit potentials were measurements were made on duplicate samples, in a salt spray test cabinet (ASTM B117-73) for 1, 17 and 96 hours respectively and their surfaces photographed in order to calculate the percentage of surface covered by corroded spots and blisters (ASTM D610-68). 

It Is clear on analyzing the results obtained from specimens 18 and 19 as well as from 20 and 21 that film degradation and coating Integrity can be followed more efficiently by Impedance measurements than by salt spray testing (Table II and Figures 1 and 2). 

Salt spray test. The model coatings of Table I are of the high solid type used in automotive top coats. Their primary function is not corrosion protection since this is first of all a matter of phosphate layer, electrocoat and/or primer. However, the topcoats may contribute to corrosion protection by their barrier function for water, oxygen and salts. Therefore their permeability is important as one of the factors in the corrosion protection by the total coating system. We feel that a salt spray test of the model coatings directly applied to a steel surface is of little relevance for their corrosion protection performance in a real system. 

Salt Spray Test Panels coated with the standard chromate conversion coating and CMT were compared with each other in their corrosion resistant properties in several ways. The conventional 5% NaCl/S02 fog chamber tests showed excessive corrosion and pitting within one week on chromate conversion coated (COC) 7075-T6 A1 alloy panels. The CMT coated panels were almost uncorroded and without any pits. The plates in Figure 1 show the conditions of the panels after 7 and 14 days exposure in this environment. Even after 14 days exposure the CMT panels were still far better than COC panels. 

Figure 28.2 Alclad 2024 SO2 Salt Spray Tested Panels (4 Weeks) A—chromate conversion coat with E-coat primer, B—chromate conversion coat with Deft primer, C— plasma polymer coat with E-coat primer total scanned area is 27 cm. ...

Pitting corrosion, on the other hand, occurs without gross delamination of the coating during the normal duration of salt spray tests (e.g., 1-3 months), and only removal of the coating after the salt spray tests can reveal the presence of pits. Pitting... 

Figure 28.8 Comparison of the two E-coat coated aluminum panels after Prohesion salt spray tests E-coats were removed after the test.

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