Application of glass flake coatings in construction

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As a high-performance anti-corrosion coating, glass flake coating is primarily used in harshly corrosive environments such as chemical plants, offshore platforms, the inner walls of storage tanks, ocean bridges, port facilities, and power plant flue gas desulfurization systems. The film thickness of glass flake coatings is usually quite thick, ranging from 500 to 1500 μm. Tests have shown that, if the coating thickness is below 500 microns, the corrosion resistance of epoxy glass flake coatings is comparable to that of epoxy coal tar pitch coatings with the same thickness. For the surfaces of steel structures coated with glass flake paint, it is first necessary to address any structural defects; there should be no discontinuous welds, and weld pores must be repaired and smoothed out, while the free edges should be polished to an R value of 2 mm. For external corners, a radius is required, with R=3 mm, while the inner surface radius is R=10 mm. The steel surface is required to be sandblasted to Sa2.5, with a surface roughness of at least Rz: 75μm. For ordinary glass flake coatings, they can be applied using conventional airless spraying methods, brushing, and rolling. However, for polyester and vinyl ester glass flake coatings, the application process is relatively more complex, with some special considerations.