ISO/EN 12944

This standard, which is both a new International Standard and a European

Standard, has been given positive votes by both the International and European
committees and can now proceed to being a full published standard. It is unlikely
that this will be the case for all parts until mid 1998 at the earliest.
It should be noted, that because of the approval given by the European committee,
this standard will replace existing national standards such as BS5493 and DIN
55928.
The main problem I see at the moment is that it appears unlikely that the US based
specifying houses will use the specification, but will continue to use SSPC and
NACE guidelines.
ISO 12944 states that it is designed for use by engineers who have some technical
knowledge in the area of corrosion protection, as well as knowledge of other
relevant specifications.
Many will find the durability ranges to be extremely useful - this is the estimated time
to first major maintenance. This needs to be agreed between the interested parties
with reference to ISO 4628/1 to ISO 4628/5. It should always be realised that much
less effort is required to maintain a coating which has broken down to Ri2 than one
which has broken down to Ri3, for example.
The durability ranges considered are:Low

2-5 Years

Medium

5-15 Years

High

>15 Years

and are assuming the coating has reached a breakdown level of Ri3.
(It is emphasised that the durability range is not a guarantee time.

It is purely

present to help the owner of the structure estimate sensible maintenance times.
The guarantee time is generally shorter than the durability range, and there is no
simple relationship between the two.)

MJM/19/07/97/GD
7/31/98

Page No. 1

ISO/EN 12944

SUMMARY SECTIONS

ISO 12944-2

Covers the corrosivity of various environments and how these can

be measured.

Various anti-corrosive systems can then be

specified for these environments.

IS 19244-3

Deals with best practices in structural steel design from a corrosion

prevention viewpoint.

ISO 12944-4

Covers surface preparation - reference to ISO 8501, IS0 8502, IS0

8503, ISO 8504.

ISO 12944-5

Typical paint systems by generic type for a given durability in a

given environment.

ISO 12944-6

Laboratory testing of paint systems, particularly intended for those

where sufficient practical experience is not yet available. Does not
cover power tool cleaned steel specifically.

ISO 12944-7

Covers application at works or on site, inspection and follow up.

Also deals with reference areas.

ISO 12944-8

Describes how to prepare specifications for corrosion protection

and ancillary issues.

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ISO/EN 12944

PART 2
CLASSIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTS

Defined from weight loss of metallic (low carbon steel and zinc) specimens over a
defined period of 1 year (not more and not less).
There are obvious differences in this approach because of change of climate on a
yearly basis, but this certainly helps quantify the corrosivity of an environment.

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ISO/EN 12944
TABLE 1 - CORROSIVITY OF ENVIRONMENTS
Exterior
C1, C2

C3

Very low - low

Medium

<10-200 g/m2
(1.3-25m)

Interior

D.F.T*

Heated buildings/neutral
atmospheres.

75m

Rural areas, low pollution, dry.

Unheated buildings, possible

condensation

200m

200-400 g/m2
(25-50m)

Urban and industrial atmospheres

Moderate SO2 pollution
Moderate coastal Cl)

Production rooms with high humidity

and air pollution
Chemical processing plants

200m

C4

High

40-650 g/m2
(50-80m)

Industrial and coastal.

C5-I

Very high
industrial

650-1500 g/m2

Industry with high humidity and

aggressive atmosphere

320m

C5-M

Very high
marine

650-1500 g/m2

Marine coastal, offshore

High salinity

320m

I1

Structures immersed in fresh water

I2

Structures immersed in sea or brackish water

I3

Structures immersed in soil

240m (Zinc)
280m (Non-zinc)

(Refer to ISO 12944-2)

* Above thicknesses refer to multi-coat systems. Where single coats are applied higher film thicknesses will be required (see recommended
specifications).

MJM/19/07/97/GD
07 May 1997

Page No. 4

ISO/EN 12944

PART 3
STRUCTURAL DESIGN

ISO 12944-3, which covers basic design criteria, is really outside the scope of
protective coatings manufacturers. This can only really be fully implemented at the
New Construction stage or by major modification at a later date. Coatings are often
expected to alleviate, or help alleviate, corrosion problems due to design errors. In
this instance, it could well be that different coating specifications would be required
for these areas which could be thicker/more corrosion resistant than those used
elsewhere. Typically, if a certain area was subjected to frequent ponding of rain
water because of design, then either modification would be required to prevent this
or a different coating system could be needed.

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ISO/EN 12944
ISO 12944-5
PROTECTIVE PAINT SYSTEMS

This section, and that on testing, are those most likely to be argued over and to
provide the greatest areas of contention.
In the areas of generic paint systems, almost every type which can be imagined has
been covered, and what appears to me a series of quite complicated matrices have
been put together. This is possibly why this part of the specification is not due for
completion until 1998 and will be the last section finalised.
At this time there continues to be much discussion on this section, and modifications
will certainly be made.
Currently, for example, it is indicated that both solvent based alkyds and water
based acrylics will dry at 0C, certainly we would not recommend this type of
condition for water based, and on conventional alkyds I would expect an extremely
negative effect.

Note, the proposed definition and rider regarding zinc rich coatings. This now
becomes much closer to the SSPC SP20 definition than, for example, current
British Standards.

Minimum film thickness should be >80% specified d.f.t.

Recommended that maximum d.f.t. is not greater than 3x nominal d.f.t. (this is
much greater than we would specify and would certainly potentially create
problems). Reference to paint manufacturers technical data sheet.

Note, all references are to airless spray application.

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ISO/EN 12944

THICKNESSES/LIFETIMES FOR VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTS

(Refer to ISO 12944-5)

C2

80m

Low

150m

Medium

200m

High

120m

Low

Low corresponds to 2-5 years

160m

Medium

Medium corresponds to 5-15 years

200m

High

High corresponds to >15 years

160m

Low

200m

Medium

240m

High (Zinc)

280m

High (Non Zinc)

C5I

200m

Low

C5M

280m

Medium

C3

C4

320

MJM/19/07/97/GD

High

Page No. 7

ISO/EN 12944
PAINT SYSTEMS

Those shown are examples for several environments:

Other systems having the same performance are possible.

All paints for all systems shall be suitable for the highest corrosion stress of the
given corrosivity or immersion category.

Documentation or guarantee stating suitability or the durability of a paint system

in a given environment - experience or artificial ageing tests where necessary.

Standard arranges systems as follows:A1 to A5

According to binder in the topcoat

Others

According to binder in the primer coat

A1

All examples of systems for C2, C3 and C4.

A2

Systems for C2 (system not shown if it has high classification in A3, A4).

A3

Systems for C3 (system not shown if it has high classification in A4).

A4

Systems for C4.

Where a paint system cannot be allocated to one of the Tables A1 to A9, full
information regarding:Surface preparation
Generic type
Number of coats
Nominal dry film thickness
shall be given in the same way as indicated in the tables.

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ISO/EN 12944

There are an extremely wide range of generic coatings included in the specification,
and really these can only be considered as examples. Basically, paint types used
by all participating members have been included.

No reference or allowance

appears to have been made to recognise the effect of the introduction of legislation
to reduce solvent emissions, and paint types whose use is being restricted for health
and safety reasons are also included.
Also, as in almost all specifications, there is no allowance or mention of what are
often perceived as key issues regarding coating systems, i.e.

Drying times - handling times, overcoating times

Maximum overcoating times

Effect of application conditions

In general, more problems are encountered due to poor interpretation, ignorance of

the above, or by use of coatings which are not sufficiently tolerant over a wide range
of conditions.
It is likely that most interest will be with the high durability systems, i.e. those with
an expected life to first major maintenance of 15 years plus. With these it is also
likely that the following environments will be most important:C4

High Corrosivity

C5-I

Very High Industrial

C5-M

Very High Marine

The C3 area of medium corrosivity will meet the 15 year requirements with most
reasonable 2 or more coat schemes, giving minimum d.f.ts of 150-200 microns.

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Page No. 9

ISO/EN 12944

When considering the actual schemes listed, the following points are worth noting:1.

All coating systems, with the exception of those designed for immersion, are
very multi-coat in type. This would almost certainly lead to a request from
any contractor to reduce the number of coats and utilise higher solids
coatings with higher d.f.ts.

2.

Some of the mixtures of systems, for example, overcoating alkyds with

chlorinated rubbers, are not normally utilised.

3.

All specifications tend to be based on multiples of 40 microns, whereas in UK

and many countries the multiples are of 25 microns, probably due to the
influence of the US and 1 mil = 25 microns.

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