by Joseph Spillman 2W1

A recent project involved testing a full coating system on four steel plates using various materials and surface preparation methods. The first plate was grinded to white metal removing all rust and mill scale while receiving a two-part water-based epoxy coating. While the next three plates received different variants of sanding, then coated with either oil-based epoxy or zinc clad. I purposefully administered different effects to three of the coatings to make them fail to demonstrate how each one would look. After all coatings were met to proper film thickness and cured, they were thrown into the retention pond where we will pick up with a part two to see how the coatings held up in the spring.

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