Corrosion Monitoring of Metal Structures With Fluorescent Indicators

"SPEC has developed a prototype fluorescent corrosion indicator (FCI) system that shows tremendous promise in revealing corrosion beneath a specially prepared coating before any visible damage has appeared on the surface of the coating itself. Thisremarkable early warning system is based on the use of a fluorescent indicator that is distributed throughout the paint. The indicator is quenched by the acidic products formed at sites of active corrosion. That is, the paint will normally be fluorescentunder an ultraviolet (UV) light, but above a corrosion pit there will be a dark spot because the fluorescence is locally reduced or absent. In contrast, the behavior of the paint in visible light will be essentially unchanged. Thus, there will be noindication of corrosion in visible light so long as the paint surface is intact, but underlying corrosion will be revealed under UV by dark spots seen against the background fluorescence. This proposal is concerned with the refinement of SPEC's FCI and itsintegration with photogrammetric or videometric methods of monitoring progressive corrosion. The transition of the fluorescent corrosion indicator technology to a commercial product is organic and central to the proposed program. Our partnership with 3Mobviously lends immense technical and marketing strength to the commercialization of the system. The value of an effective and simple corrosion indicating system is obviously of great benefit to our