United States Department of Transportation
i
Aesthetic coatings for steel bridge components.
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2013-11-01
[PDF-6.10 MB]
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Abstract:The effectiveness of aesthetic coating systems for steel bridges was studied. Twelve 2-coat, 3-coat, and duplex
coating systems were selected and subjected to a series of accelerated weathering and mechanical tests to
determine their performance. The performance evaluation was made by considering gloss and color retention,
coating discontinuities, rust creepage, and coating adhesion. Surface preparation and coating application
procedures were given significant consideration. The best color and gloss retention was achieved by the 3-coat
fluoropolymer systems, but they required higher materials cost. One of the two 2-coat systems performed
nearly the same as the 3-coat polyurethane coating systems and the other showed a poor performance with
significant color fading. Duplex polyurethane systems showed comparable performance to that of the 3-coat
fluoropolymer systems but they performed better than the 3-coat polyurethane systems. This was primarily
due to the added corrosion protection provided by the hot dip galvanization. It was found that proper adhesion
in a duplex system can be achieved by following appropriate procedures for galvanization and surface
preparation. Both duplex powder coated systems tested in this study experienced out-gassing problems during
the initial application and did not show satisfactory performance.
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