TECHNICAL • PAINTS & COATINGS
5°C and then suddenly dropped to – 40°C, and that puts much more strain on our coating than a slower decline in temperatures. That leads to residual stress on the coatings and may cause them to crack.’
Jotun tests Arctic effect on different coatings
Thanks to $50 per barrel oil, exploration in the Norwegian Arctic is likely to remain minimal for the time being. But oil and gas projects are long-term endeavours.
‘The US geological survey estimates that 30% of the undiscovered natural gas and 13% of oil lies under the Arctic,’ says Jotun R&D chemist Anders Skilbred. ‘Much of this will remain underground because of inaccessibility, but exploration in these regions never really stops.’
Even if oil stays low for decades, many anticipate the Arctic will still see an increase in ship traffic thanks to the retreating ice sheets opening up new, cheaper shipping channels. ‘In short, there will be a lot of steel moving through - or permanently mounted in - the Arctic,’ Skilbred continues, ‘and all this will have to be protected one way or another.’
For Arctic coatings, accelerated laboratory testing, comprised of various tools to simulate a decade’s wear, simply won’t cut it. ‘In order to guarantee a coating will perform, we need to test the coatings under these conditions,’ says
Skilbred. As such, the company has taken paint swatches – including many of its coatings not considered cold- weather – up to the Norwegian Archipelago of Svalbard to ascertain their suitability for protecting hulls both mobile and static, whether the vessels in question be stationary semi- submersibles, FPSOs, or icebreakers.
Results have been intriguing. ‘The assumption is that if you send a coating to the Arctic it will be cold and dry. But we have been asking whether we really understand the Arctic conditions. There is no official data on corrosion in the Arctic but it seems like the rates are much higher than what we expected’.
It was not the mere fact of the extremely low temperatures that did most of the damage. ‘The problem is not the cold temperatures, but the variance in temperatures,’ says Skilbred. ‘Our test station is located at Svalbard, at 78° latitude, and the average temperature ranges between -40°C in the winter and -6°C in the summer.
‘In October of last year, we found that over a few days, the temperature was
Researchers believe that wind effect may also play a role. In Svalbard this is particularly pronounced, explains Skilbred, and ‘when there is not so much snow cover on the ground the winds blow coal dust and ice particles – these cause extra wear on the coating, and it could be that they have a polishing effect.’
Chugoku links with Berger Paints India
Chugoku Paints has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kolkata-based Berger Paints India, positioning itself to benefit enormously from a market which many expect will be the next big growth market after China.
Present in all paints segments in India, Berger Paints is the country’s second- largest paint company with an annual turnover more than Rs5,000 crore ($775m). ‘Chugoku looks forward to the partners jointly becoming leading players in marine coatings in India and the neighboring region,’ said Chugoku president and ceo Masataka Uetake.
The deal will enable Chugoku to bring its range of Seaflo Neo marine coatings to bear on the market, which include the Selektope ingredient, specially designed by I-TECH AB (see separate article).
Abhijit Roy, Berger Paints ceo, commented on the deal: ‘Chugoku and Berger together have considerable strength in technical expertise, product, market knowledge and relevant skills and infrastructure and these are expected to considerably benefit the territory's market requirements.’
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Seatrade Maritime Review • Quarterly Issue 2 • June 2017 91
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