COATINGS
Renato Sanchez and Rick Kimpel,
Aegion Group
How important is surface
preparation?
Diligent surface preparation is the foundation
of corrosion prevention management. Uncoated factory
pipe is exposed to a barrage of aggressive corrosives:
alkalines, oxygen, carbon dioxide, rough internal surfaces,
microorganisms and more. Fully coating the pipe (including
the internal field joints) is one of the most efficient
approaches to corrosion prevention in new pipeline
construction. However, prevention is nearly impossible
unless the pipe surfaces have been properly prepared
and inspected prior to coating and product flowing. The
pipe surface must meet high standards or the protective
coating will not bond properly to the pipe.
Inadequate surface preparation and faulty coating
application will quickly erode any sought-after results,
and in oil and gas pipelines coating failure is a leading
cause of corrosion. Coatings should be applied to a
properly prepared surface with an adequate anchor profile
Figure 2.
CCSI’s CoatCheck inspection robot measures surface preparation, coating quality and environmental parameters during the
field joint coating process. It correlates the data with GPS telemetry, providing inspectors and owner companies valuable insight to
quickly pinpoint and address irregularities.
Figure 1.
Robotic equipment can easily detect holidays and
other defects in factory-coated pipe or bare weld areas.
50
SEPTEMBER
2014
