Resinous coatings for ship decks

Teak wood is known for its resistance against natural conditions. It is impervious to the effects of snow, ice, rain, sun, heat, cold, and humidity and withstands weather better than any other wood. That is one of the big reasons that teak wood is chosen for ship decks. But the increasing demand of cruises is leading to bigger ships, then lighter and cheaper materials than teak are needed for deck flooring. A valid solution is the use of resinous coatings, which, moreover, provide a range of aesthetic effects that cannot be obtained with traditional materials. The typical system is composed by a primer, an undercoat and a topcoat. Some problems may arise in the application of the different layers: 1) overcoating time for the primer and the undercoat; if too much time passes between the application of the different coats, adhesion problems can occur. 2) thixotropy-paint flow balance for the undercoat; adequate film build and ease of application are as necessary as levelling and lack of films defects. Regarding the first point, this paper reports some studies on the superficial characteristics of polyurethane primers and undercoats: the evaluation of the presence of residual –OH /–N=C=O groups as a function of application time was performed by FT-IR/ATR spectroscopy and measurements of water-contact angle. The obtained results were related to the adhesion properties of the system