Two-Coat Polyaspartic Coating Technology Protects Virginia Steel Bridges

Over the past decade, more than 150 steel bridges in Virginia have been repainted with two-coat polyaspartic urethane coating technology. The results show the polyaspartic urethane two-coat coating systems offer corrosion protection equivalent to conventional three-coat systems. Two-coat polyaspartic urethane coatings also have the added benefits of providing cost reduction in painting operations, accelerated painting schedules and milder traffic congestion.

This is the topic of a presentation titled “Two-coat polyaspartic urethane coatings protect Virginia steel bridge structures for over a decade” at the NACE Central Area Conference in Austin, Texas, by Ahren Olson, market manager, Corrosion Protection at Covestro LLC. This work was co-authored by Todd Wiliams, lab manager, Covestro LLC, Mark Hudson, project development manager, Bridge & Highway, Sherwin-Williams and C.Wayne Flemings, senior technican for structral coatings, Virginia Department of Transportation. On Tuesday, August 8 at 8 a.m., Olson will discuss several topics including the advantages and disadvantages of using two-coat polyaspartic coatings for the field repainting of steel bridges and share results from field inspections of Virgina bridges.

Two-coat polyaspartic urethane coatings have been used to protect steel bridges from corrosion for well over a decade and provide excellent edge protection in the areas in which corrosion is most likely to start. Studies have also shown the application of these fast-throughput systems can save Departments of Transportation up to 20 percent on field repainting costs due to productivity advantages.