7.1 INTRODUCTION

Although coatings have been used for over thousands of years for decorative and identification purposes, the industrial importance of coatings has only been recognized after World War II. The total amount of paint sold annually amounts to billions of gallons. In 2000, USA alone manufactured about 3.5 billion gallons of paint. About one-third of the production of paint is used to protect and decorate metal surfaces. All forms of transport, such as trains, ships, automobiles, aeroplanes, underground buried structures, such as tanks, oil and gas pipelines, offshore structures, iron and structures and all metallic equipment require the use of coatings. The coating industry has, therefore, turned out to be one of the largest in terms of production. The importance of coating can be judged from the fact that coating can hardly be ignored in any corrosion protective scheme.

Corrosion protection of over-ground and underground structures by protective coatings is one of the most proven methods. Other methods include cathodic protection, environmental modification, material selection and design. In contrast to the behavior of rust on steel, the formation of an oxide affords protection against corrosion. If the resistivity of electrolyte is increased and the electron flux is retarded, the rate of corrosion is decreased. By applying coatings of high resistivity, such as epoxies, vinyls, chlorinated rubbers, etc. the flow of electric current to the metal surface is impeded. Also, the higher the thickness of the coating, the higher would be the electrical resistanceofthecoating. Amuchhigherresistance to the current flow would,...