The Salt Spray Test Procedure Basically, the salt spray test procedure involves the spraying of a salt solution onto the samples boing tested. This is done inside a temperature-controled chamber. The solution is a 5% salt (ocium chloride — NaC) solution. The samples under test are inserted into the chamber, following Which the salt-containing solution is sprayed as a very fine fog mist over the samples. The temperature within the chamber is maintained at a constant level. Since the spray is continual, the ‘samples are constantly wet, and therefore, constantly subject to corrosion. Through the years, there have been some new twists added to better simulate special environmental conditions, but the most common procedure by far in North America is the test as described in ASTM B 117 Standard Practice for Operating Salt Spray (Fog) Apparatus. In summary, the procedure is: + Wooden racks are contained in the salt fog chamber (3' high, * Place samples on a the wooden rack at a small tit angle ‘© 5% NaCl in tap water pumped from a reservoir to spray nozzles ‘© Solution mixed with humidified compressed air at nozzles ‘© Compressed air atomizes NaCI solution into a fog at the nozzles Heaters maintain a 95°F cabinet temperature ‘© Test duration can be from 24 hours to 1000 hours and more for some materials, * deep, 5' wide) Within the chamber, the samples are rotated frequently so that all samples are exposed as Uniformly as possible tothe salt spray mist. When the salt spray test is used for testing metallic-coated stee! sheet, the corrosion performance is rated in the following ways: ‘+ Number of hours until rusting ofthe stee! is frst evident ‘+ Number of hours until 5% of the surface area is rusted ‘+ Number of hours until 10% of the surface area is rusted, ete. ‘The onset of red rust on a sample of galvanized sheet, for example, means that the coating has been consumed by the corrosion reaction, and the corrosion of the base steel is beginning. There is no one best performance criterion. It simply depends on what the user defines as failure. The following table is one guideline that that can be used as a measure of expected performance of three zinc-containing hot-dip coatingsGuideline to Salt Spray Resistance of Zinc-Containing Hot-Dip Coatings ‘Approximate Time to 5% Red Rust Product {per micron jum] of coating thickness) Galvanize (zinc-coated) 10 hours* Gaffan® (zinc-5% aluminum alloy-coated) 25 hours® Galvalume® (65% aluminum-zinc alloy-coated) 50 hours” “Galan is a trademark of te Gatan Technology Cart, tc. *cahvalume isa tetered radar of IEC Intemational, Ie ‘Galvanize 2275 — typical coating thickness/side is 20.5 jim, so approximate time to 59% red rustis 205 hours in sat spray. "Gattan ZGF275 — typical coating thicknessiside is 21.5 jum, so approximate time to 5% red rust is 540 hours in salt spray. Galvalume AZ50 — typical coating thickness/side is 21.5 jim, 50 approximate time to 5% red rustis 1075 hours, in salt spray, When the satt spray test is used to rate the performance of paint pretreatments, paint primers andior topcoats, the normal rating schemes involve: ‘+ Measuring the wicth of paint undercutting ether along a scribed line through the paint or at a sheared edge after 250, 500, 750 etc hours of exposure in the test chamber, ‘© Measuring the amount of paint blistering that has occurred on the surfaces of the painted steel panel in 250, 500, 750 ele. hours. ‘There are other ways to define failure, but the above two are very common. Since the salt spray test does not involve any exposure to ultraviolet ight, paint fading and chalking are not measured in this test. ‘An ASTM siandard has been developed for modified salt spray testing. It is G 85 Standard Pracice for Modified Salt Spray (Fog) Testing, and has several modifications involving cyclic acid and $0, additions. This standard is not as widely used as B 117. Method AS of G86 has been found by some producers to be able to rank materials and coatings similar to that witnessed in actual service’.