oYmal yor $ a painc lo 4 Jom HOLIDAY/PINHOLE DETECTION — gg Qw. jinholes in a paint film are defects which allow ress. electral and therefore are detrimental 10 an afi corrosion system and need fepair, Not all defects of this nature are visible to the naked eye and we therefore need equipment to facilitate the detection, For coatings of thicknesses above 500 um it would be necessary to use a high voltage holiday detector, but for coatings of Jess than 300 um it is normal to use a wet sponge pinhole detector. Most paint systems on new steel fall into the latter. The wet sponge pinhole detector ts a very simple piece of equipment and consists of a small control box, usually pocket size, with two terminals, positive and negative, The negative terminal is connected to bare steel on the structure to be tested, The positive terminal is connected to a hand stick with a sponge on the end. The operating power is provided by two, 1'4v batteries in the control box. To use the detector the sponge clectrode is wetted in water with a tiny amount of detergent/washing up liquid added, and squeezed out to remove excess water. After switching on and selection of operating voltage, the sponge is traversed methodically over the area. On vertical surface it is better to work upwards, On contact with a pinhole, the weiting agent (detergent) allows immediate penetration of the water, so providing a very low resistance circuit back to the contro! box. A high pitched bleep indicates the presence of a pinhole, the exact Position of which is loceted by using a comer of the sponge. The position is then marked ready eeeeers Seb . [ican i 7 Voltage setting Basic models have two options for setting, 9v and 90v. More sophisticated models have an intermediate setting. For DFTs of less than or equal to 300 setting is normal. For DFTs of 300 — 500 um 90v or 67'v intermediate sensitivity would be preferred. Painting Inspection Grade 3/2, Rev 1 April 2004 WORLD CENTRE FOR Holiday/Pinhole Detection 14 MATERIALS JOINING Copyright © 2003, TWI Lid TECHNOLOGYPainting Inspection Grade 3/2. Rev | April 2004 TWI worn centae ror Holiday/Pinhole Detection 142 MATERIALS JOINING Copyright © 2003, TWI Lid TECHNOLOGY