Assessment of Marine Coatings at a Central California Static Immersion Test Site
Abstract
Over the next two years we are proposing to continue to provide coating assessments at our staticimmersion field site for contractors within the program. Field testing of marine coatings consistsof exposing test panels to the natural marine environment and assessing: 1) the ability of theexperimental coating to deter attachment of marine organisms by measuring percent ofbiofouling coverage; 2) the ease with which attached organisms are removed by measuringcritical removal stress of barnacles and other hard foulers, and by using water jet to measure thepressure at which organism remove from coatings; and, 3) the ability of the coating to remainintact and prevent eventual corrosion of the underlying surface. During the past three years wehave tested 501 surfaces and 135 formulations at our static immersion field site.In addition to testing novel coatings, we also plan to participate in the next iteration of the intersitecalibration study and we want to conduct additional analysis using our data on environmentalparameters to explore which variables (e.g., temperature, salinity, chlorophyll) can be used aspredictors of recruitment of fouling species.The major scientific advances and naval relevance for our work in this area will be:1. Facilitating the down-select process for multiple PI’s within the biofouling programas they develop novel coatings;2. Increased understanding of the importance of static field testing across geographicallocations;3. Increased understanding of the dynamics of fouling communities and factors thataffect recruitment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 21, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141613208
Entities
People
- Dean E Wendt
Organizations
- Cal Poly Corporation
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy