Painting, Coating For Buried Pipes

Why coating is needed for Underground pipes:
When a pipe has to be buried underground, we have to take extra care to protect its external surface.
This is mainly due, the steel pipes will undergo severe corrosion. Some common types of corrosion
anticipated in underground corrosive environments are provided below:
1. General corrosion- The gradual destruction of pure metals by the action of air, moisture, or a chemical
(such as an acid) on their surface.
2. Pitting corrosion- A localized form of corrosion by which cavities or “holes” are produced in the
material.
3. Stress corrosion- A type of environmentally-assisted cracking or the formation of cracks caused by

various factors combined with the environment surrounding the pipeline. It occurs as a result of a
combination between corrosion and tensile stress.
4. microbiological corrosion It occurs due to the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria. They convert
sulfate in the soil to sulfide, which attacks steel, causing severe pits.
To prevent corrosion, in underground pipes/pipelines, we use a coating. The coating is a barrier to

protect steel from the environment. This is supplemented by a Cathodic Protection system in most cases.
Types of coating
Step-1: Applying a primer (synthetic primer or Epoxy primer) over a surface treated pipe.
Step-2: Applying a coat of coal-tar enamel having a minimum thickness of 24 micron/2.4mm over the
primed pipe.
Step-3: Applying inner wrap of resin-bonded glass fiber mats. (These reinforcements add mechanical
strength to the enamels, which are thermoplastic materials. They strengthen the coating, inhibiting
creep and increasing the impact resistance.)
Step-4: The second coat of coal-tar enamel having a minimum thickness of 2400 micron/2.4mm follows
this.
Step-5: Applying outer wrap of CTE-impregnated glass fiber mats. These outer wraps are porous,
allowing the vapors to escape during application and the hot enamel to permeate and fuse the outer
wrap to the surface. These glass fiber outer wraps have replaced the old-fashioned and environmentally
unacceptable asbestos felts, which were not porous and often entrapped vapors, leading to voids or
detached felt.
Fusion bonded epoxies used as singe layer anti corrosion coating.
Epoxy is a type of structure of polymers gives them their toughness and elasticity, making polymer
products seen everywhere in daily life. Epoxy resins include epoxides—highly reactive groups of
molecules—that harden (or cure) through chemical reactions, which are caused either by combining
them with other substances or heating them to a high temperature. This is the process through which an
epoxy becomes “cross-linked,” as polymer strands form into a hardened structure.
This property of epoxies is used in Fusion Bonded Epoxy coating over pipes to provide long term
corrosion resistance and protection of the pipes under moderate operating temperatures (-30°C/-22°F to
110°C/230°F).
The resin and hardener components in the dry powder FBE stock remain unreacted at normal storage
conditions. At typical coating application temperatures, which are generally in the range of 180°C to
250°C, the contents of the powder melt and transform to a liquid form. The liquid FBE film wets and
flows onto the steel surface on which it is applied, and soon becomes a solid coating by chemical cross-
linking, assisted by heat. This process is known as fusion bonding. The chemical cross-linking reaction
taking place, in this case, is irreversible. Once the curing takes place, the coating cannot be returned to
its original form by any means. The application of further heating also does not melt the coating and
thus it is known as a thermoset coating.
1. Three Layer Polyethylene/Polypropylene Coating (3LPE/3LPP):
Fusion bonded epoxies used as singe layer anti corrosion coating, but it can also be used as primer for
Three Layer Polyethylene/Polypropylene Coating
3-Layer Polyethylene or 3-Layer Polypropylene is a multilayer coating composed of three functional

components;
I. a high-performance fusion-bonded epoxy (FBE) followed by a

II. copolymer adhesive and an
III. outer layer of polyethylene/polypropylene which provides tough, durable protection.
3LPE/3LPP Systems provide excellent pipeline protection for small and large diameter pipelines with
moderate to high operating temperatures.

Painting, Coating For Buried Pipes

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Why coating is needed for Underground pipes:

3. Stress corrosion- A type of environmentally-assisted cracking or the formation of cracks caused by

To prevent corrosion, in underground pipes/pipelines, we use a coating. The coating is a barrier to

Fusion bonded epoxies used as singe layer anti corrosion coating.

1. Three Layer Polyethylene/Polypropylene Coating (3LPE/3LPP):

3-Layer Polyethylene or 3-Layer Polypropylene is a multilayer coating composed of three functional

I. a high-performance fusion-bonded epoxy (FBE) followed by a

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