Inspection & Testing
Paint Finish Qulaity Assured
In compliance with our ISO 9001 quality accreditation, Irvine has two dedicated Quality Assurance operatives who concentrate on test & inspection. Our test and inspection personnel are qualified to ICORR Level 3, the UK equivalent to NACE Level 3 in the US.
We have a suite of test and inspection procedures for epoxy paint coatings, and will use combinations of them depending on the requirements detailed in the customer specification.
Some specifications will require the paint batch itself to be tested - on arrival, and then once per week through the lifespan of the batch. Other specifications call for test plates to be concurrently produced along with the job itself.
Although there are others, the quality assurance tests that we regularly carry out on our epoxy finished components include;
Blast Profile Testing
To ensure the post shotblasting blast profile conforms to the customer's specification, we will assess the amplitude using either an Elcometer Surface
Needle Gauge, or Elcometer 122 Testex Tape.
Dust Contamination Test
This is another test carried out at the paint preparation stage. The blasted component must be free from foreign matter before any paint is applied. When the job has been blasted, it will then be blown down using compressed air. A special tape is then applied at strategic points, and analysed visually to ensure the component is free from contaminants.
Wet Sponge Holiday Testing
The completion of a holiday test is a common testing requirement. The test equipment itself can be set to given levels of specified resistance. An electrical connection is made to the component, and the sponge wetted with soapy water to increase conductivity. The test and inspection operative will then pass the wet sponge over the whole component. Depending on the sensitivity being tested for, if the sponge passes over a low spot in the coating, and electrical circuit will be made and an alarm will sound.
It is an effective way of quickly establishing whether there are any areas on the component with a track to parent offering a route to corrosion.
Potassium Ferrocyanide Test
A qualitative test to establish the presence of salt on the component. This is not a quantitative test, it simply identifies whether there is salt present on the surface.
Bresle Patch Test
A quantitative test to establish the levels of sulphide and chloride contamination on a component. Involves saturating a special test patch with a de-ionised conductivity solution, then analysing the results.
Hydraulic Pull Testing
To provide an accurate representation of the job itself, the test plates are blasted to the same profile as the job, at the same time, and coated to the same specification as the job, at the same time and under the same conditions.
Epoxy coatings can take up to two or three weeks to fully cure, so it is important that we label and date the plates, then store them until the full cure date (as specified by the paint manufacturer) is reached. At this point we conduct a Hydraulic Pull Test on the test plate using an Elcometer 108 Hydraulic Adhesion Tester. This will confirm whether the part meets and exceeds the specified adhesion requirements. Client representatives or third party inspectors are often present during this test.
