The Institute of International Container Lessors (IICL) has released the findings of laboratory tests to compare the performance of coatings on the frame of reefer containers.
In May 2020, IICL released a study on coatings systems on the frames of refrigerated containers. That study noted that reefer containers “are frequently held to high aesthetic requirements due to the nature of the cargoes (fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat and so forth) being transported, thus the coating system chosen plays a critical role in the associated maintenance costs and useful operational life of the equipment for cargo transport”.
The May study reconfirmed IICL members’ experience that “the frame of refrigerated units treated with hot zinc spray had an overall significantly better performance than the ones using zinc rich primer”. The IICL has now backed this up with laboratory tests to compare the performance of the coatings system in a controlled environment and under the exact same conditions. Identical samples were treated with hot zinc spray and with zinc rich primer.
“All samples for testing were prepared at a refrigerated container factory under the full supervision of our inspectors during production of a reefer. Samples were properly collected, recorded, sealed, and sent to the laboratory for testing,” the IICL reported. “The identical samples were submitted to tests by impact, bending, and scribe, followed by 500 hours’ exposure of salt spray and subsequently by an adhesion test.
“As anticipated, the hot zinc spray coating system outperformed the zinc primer system in every test category. Also noticeable on all of the photos after 500 hours of salt spray is the fact that the zinc primer samples were found to have bleeding, running corrosion while the hot zinc spray samples look very good, except for some zinc salting and light corrosion on the bend test sample, and some very minor blistering on the scribe test.”
Luiz Goncalves, IICL’s technical director, said: “The laboratory results confirmed what we have known for years in the industry. The hot zinc spray coating system is a critical factor to protect Corten steel frames and prevent corrosion on reefer equipment. The results are clear and speak for themselves. Samples coated with hot zinc spray outperformed others in all tests.”
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This complete item is approximately 370 words in length, and appeared in the September 2020 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 18. To access this issue download the PDF here
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