Epoxy-amine coatings are widely used as primers in the ships industry. The degradation of these coatings when exposed to weathering is studied in this project and the influence it has on the overcoatability. Accelerated weathering has been used to expose coatings and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy (Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transformed Infrared) and pull-off adhesion measurements have been successfully used to study the primers and the following intercoat adhesion. Different variables have been investigated, being the chemical composition of the coating the most influent one. The intercoat adhesion has proved to decrease after short exposures to weathering and IR data have been used to assess the overcoatability of different formulations. The use of IR spectroscopy could be a very useful tool in the future of overcoatability testing if the results of this project are confirmed.

Outgoing