HOLIDAY/PINHOLE DETECTION Holidays and pinholes in a paint film are defects which allow ingress of an electrolyte, and therefore are detrimental to an anti corrosion system and need repair. 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 less than 500 um it is normal to use a wet sponge pinhole detector. Most paint systems on new stee! fall into the latter. The wet sponge pinhole detector is 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, l¥4v batteries in the control box. To use the detector the sponge electrode 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 a vertical surface it is better to work upwards. On contact with a pinhole, the welling agent (detergent) allows immediate penetration of the water, so providing a very low resistance circuit back to the control box. A high pitched bleep indicates the presence of a pinhole, the exact position of which is located by using a comer of the sponge. ‘The position is then marked ready for repait. 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 um the 9v setting is normal. For DFTs of 300 ~ 500 um 90v or 674 intermediate sensitivity would he preferred, Painting Inspection Grade 3/2, Rev 1 April 2004 TWI wort cavrrerox Holiday/Pinhole Detection M1 zap Maseuaes sone Copyright © 2003, TWILtd ‘TECHNOLOGY