Determination of epoxy coating wet-adhesive strength using a standardized ASTM/ISO scratch test

A new approach for evaluating the wet-adhesive strength of epoxy-based coatings was carried out based on a recently standardized ASTM/ISO scratch test. A linearly increasing scratch normal load was applied during scratch to induce progressively increased delamination stress at the coating and steel substrate interface. Thus, the applied critical load to cause coating debonding can be experimentally determined. To find out the corresponding stress magnitude to incur coating debonding, finite element methods (FEM) modeling was conducted to analyze the stress fields around the scratch tip during scratching. The wet-adhesive strength is then quantitatively determined. Based on the above methodology, investigation on a set of model coating systems suggests that the critical load for coating delamination is significantly influenced by water exposure time, coating thickness, and substrate surface roughness. By combining the standardized scratch tests and FEM modeling, the proposed approach is found to be effective for quantitative assessment of epoxy coating wet-adhesive strength and for the development of high performance protective coatings for various industrial applications.