by Quilyam Casallas Salinas*
The protection of metal elements through the use of organic coatings is considered the most common practice and of greater use at an industrial level for different reasons such as ease in the logistics of application especially in elements already installed, factors of cost, performance and conservation of integrity against corrosive action, among others.
Aspects to analyze
For a corrosion protection process through organic coatings to fully comply with its purpose, it is essential to consider the following topics:
Design of the coating scheme according to a series of minimum variables contemplated.
Elaboration and fulfillment of a technical specification carefully prepared by professionals trained in the subject.
Quality control of the process according to standards and technical norms applied under the criteria of a trained and certified professional for this purpose.
For the design of a coating scheme used as corrosion protection, some basic parameters must be considered to preserve the balance, weights per meter frame-year of protection, as follows:
Prevailing service and environmental conditions at the site where the coating will be performed.
Type of metal material that needs to be protected.
Procedures for preparing and preparing surfaces.
Morphological characteristics of the surface to be protected.
Conditions and possible environmental limitations predominant in the area where the application of the coating is to be carried out.
Application methods that must be used in the coating installation process.
Life expectancy of the coating to be installed.
Definition of the structure of the coating scheme to be installed.
The above parameters allow us to define with great success a technical specification that finally becomes a contractual document between the owner of the asset that is intended to be protected and a third party that is the applicator or expert in coating installation.
The current reality is that the different companies have undertaken large programs to maintain the integrity of their assets through various actions that allow minimal process stops, minimum risks that threaten the physical integrity not only of their human resources but of third parties that have some relationship with the environment of the company, minimal risk against the integrity of the installed infrastructure and low impact on the environmental and ecological environment. Likewise, it is intended to extend as much as possible the useful life of each of the components installed for a production process.
Within all these activities is involved the action of corrosion control through organic coatings that plays a very important role in asset integrity programs.
The engineers responsible for the maintenance and conservation of equipment are not interested in perfecting coating installation tasks, on the contrary, they have delegated this activity to companies with a high level of specialization both in surface treatment and in the application of organic anticorrosive coatings.
Under the above considerations, the process begins with the elaboration of a technical specification supported by international or local standards that contains all the necessary parameters to achieve the objective of maintaining integrity over time counteracting the destructive action of a corrosion process.
This specification ends up becoming part of the legal document that perfects a contractual action between the owner of the asset and the expert or specialist in coating installation. Taking into account that the process is just beginning, it is usual for a third party to intervene and monitor the executive action of the contract concluded through a technical specification and compliance with minimum quality parameters.
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The audit
In order for the corrosion control process through organic coatings to achieve the expectations set, it is necessary to comply with minimum requirements according to standards or norms of common understanding among the technicians or professionals involved in the process.
The monitoring of compliance with the technical specification and quality parameters contemplated in the standard is the responsibility of the auditor, who as is hardly obvious, will be a professional with sufficient training to interpret and apply the standard and with the necessary experience that gives him criteria to make decisions of acceptance or rejection to a process of surface enlistment and application ón of coatings.
In Colombia, it has entered the era of requiring the coating installation firm to use trained and qualified personnel in this trade by recognized entities such as the National Learning Service-SENA and the Colombian Association of Corrosion and Protection-ASCOR who have been promoting and developing this activity for almost 4 years. But the circle has not yet been closed, the project is ambitious and aims to reach the auditor by making this a trained and certified coating inspector.
In Colombia for this activity the inspector certified by Nace International is being considered but unfortunately the country, to date, only has 10 professionals certified as Coating Inspecto Level 3 who are the ones who have met all the requirements of the International Coating Inspector Program. However, a group of professionals with extensive experience and capacity in the field currently work as coating inspectors, and that if a certification campaign is undertaken, surely in the short term the country will have a significant number of certified professionals. This will ensure that an asset owner meets their goal of maintaining the integrity of their equipment by generating confidence in their processes and preserving the useful life of their equipment at a lower cost, which are ultimately the objectives pursued.
*President Ascor. [email protected]
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