Practical Shipbuilding Standards For Surface Preparation And Coatings

What is Surface Preparation? Surface preparation is the most important factor in coating performance. It removes contaminants from, and provides a profile on a surface before painting. Contaminants may range from oil and grease to oxide products like millscale or rust. Surface profile is needed to provide a mechanical "anchor" for the paint. The conditions of service for a ship are severe and require the best possible protection. This level of protection and coating performance is given by coatings applied over the best surface preparation.

Presently, there is not a standardized method in the U.S. Shipbuilding Industry of preventing premature coating failures along sharp edges and at surface discontinuities in flats. Such coating failures can lead to product contamination and high repair costs. A lack of standardization and definition of what requires special preparation and/or repair have of course created a considerable amount of misunderstanding among the parties involved. Faced with similar dilemmas, several shipbuilding nations have very recently issued standards or guideline documents for sharp edges and/or defective flat surfaces. The countries are Japan, Sweden, France, Italy and West Germany. Copies of such documents obtained during Phase 1 of this project can be found in the Annex to this report.

The handbook is developed as a tool for shipyard personnel for planning and conducting surface preparation and coating work in ship tanks and other confined spaces.