Corrosion Protection Performance of Organic Offshore Coating Systems at -60 °C Temperature Shock

Six organic coating systems were investigated according to their corrosion protection performance under simulated Arctic offshore conditions. The investigations involved accelerated aging, coating adhesion measurements, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The test conditions were adapted to Arctic offshore conditions, which mainly covered temperature shocks between −20 and −60 °C, chloride exposure, dry-wet cycles, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Corrosion protection capability dropped for all coatings if temperature decreased from −20 °C to −60 °C. Two types of coatings could be classified according to their response to the corrosive load: temperature-sensitive coatings and insensitive coatings. Adhesive effects (interface between coating system and substrate) were found to be marginal only at low temperatures and did not affect the response of the coatings to the corrosive load. Cohesive effects (mechanical properties of free polymer films) could be identified in terms of a very high storage modulus and changes in the loss modulus for a temperature-sensitive coating at −60 °C.