Coating failures

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Most common paint failures

Holidays, too low DFT

Sags and runs
Orange peel
Dry spraying
Overspray
Pinholes, popping
Fish-eyes
Wrinkling / lifting

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Sweating (Amine)
Blushing
Poor drying / curing
Blisters
Rust penetration
Cracking
Flaking
Chalking
Discolouration/bleeding

Sags and runs

Appearance

Paint running or hanging like curtains on vertical surfaces

Caused by

Too high Wet film thickness

Too much thinner added to the paint
Airless spray gun too close to surface

Repair

Avoid above
Use paint brush to smoothen or remove excessive paint

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Sags and runs

Too thick application of antifouling

4934-82
4226-48

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Orange peel
Appearance

Paint surface is rough, like an orange peel

Caused by

Poor flow / levelling properties of the paint

Repair

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(Paint too thick or too low temperature)

Poor atomisation of the paint
Too fast evaporation of the thinner
Airless spray gun too close to surface

Improve application technique

Use correct thinner
Grind surface and apply new paint

Orange peel
Poor flow / levelling properties of the paint

1183-0026

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Dry spray
Appearance Porous, sandpaper like surface of the paint
Caused by Poor atomisation of the paint
Spray gun too far away from the object
High air temperature and low relative humidity: Too fast
Repair

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evaporation of the solvents

Strong wind during application
Inorganic Zinc: Re-blast and apply new paint
Physically drying paints: Apply thinner on the painted
surface and apply a new coat
Oxidativly drying paints: Remove loose dust and apply
topcoat
Two-pack paints: Remove loose dust, sandpaper to
smooth surface, apply topcoat

Overspray Dry spray

Blue top coat spray dust settling on welds etc.

Overspray onto fresh paint

4226-58

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4934-76

Pinholes
Appearance
Tiny holes through one or more coats, or even down to the
substrate, as if perforated by a needle
Caused by
Dry spraying
Entrapped solvents or air
Porosity of previous coat
Incorrect application technique or viscosity of the paint
Repair
Grind top layer of the paint
Recoat
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Pinholes

Paint applied to a porous substrate

4934-67

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Pinholes / popping
Appearance

Caused by

Repair

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Solvents or air try to evaporate through the upper part

of the film, which has already nearly dried, leaving
small bubbles /craters on the surface
Very porous substrate (e.g. Zinc silicate primer)
Entrapped solvents or air in the paint film
Usually in connection with too high film thickness,
too long application distance or too strong ventilation.
Reduce film thickness or ventilation and adjust
application technique (Tie coat / mist coat technique.
Remove paint on painted surfaces and repaint

Pinholes / Popping

Porous substrate
Too thick application

0807-88
0807-4

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Fisheyes
Appearance
Spots of paint on the surface with no wetting of the
surface around the spots. Appearance of a fisheye.
Caused by
Paint applied on oil, silicone or other contaminants
Painted on incompatible paint (Glossy paint giving
poor wetting)
Repair
Grind top layer of the paint
Recoat
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Fisheyes
Silicon

Evaporation of solvents

Wet
topcoat
Primer

Fisheye

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Blasted
steel

Wrinkling
Appearance
Small wrinkles through or partly through the paint film
Caused by
Skin drying of the paint film, which is usually applied
too thick
Repair
Grind top layer of the paint
Recoat

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Wrinkling
Paint applied too thick
Skin drying
Most common with alkyds

4847-0595

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Lifting
Appearance
Small wrinkles through the paint film
Caused by
Softening and raising or swelling of a previous
coat by the application of an additional coat
Normally when overcoating Alkyd
Lifting often caused because the solvents in the
new coat is too strong for the previous coat
Repair
Remove the paint
Recoat
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Lifting

Wrinkled and tacky surface

Coatings not compatible

4934-0066
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Sweating and carbonisation

(Amine blooming)
Appearance
Tacky and sweating film, often with white stains
Caused by
High humidity, particularly on Epoxies during curing
Poor ventilation
The Amines react with CO2 and humidity and form Amine
carbamate.
Too low temperature
Repair
Wash with warm water or thinner, using rags
Preventive measure: Induction time before application start
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Amine blooming - Sweating

Steel painted with Epoxy

Tacky surface

C22/2-17

Tacky, shining surface

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Tacky surface
with white C22/2stains
19

Bloom and blush

(Blushing)
Appearance

Surface looks milky

Caused by

Condensation on cold steel surfaces at high humidity

Air pollution, sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ammonia

forming ammonium sulphate on the paint film.

Fast thinners

Repair

Grind top layer of the paint

Recoat
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Blushing
Bloom / Blush
Antifouling and top coat exposed to high humidity

4226-0066
0807-47

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ISO 4628

Evaluation of degradation of paint coatings

Designation of intensity, quantity and size of

common types of defect

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ISO 4628

Content of the Standard

The standard consists of six parts
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

General principles and rating schemes

Designation of degree of blistering
Designation of degree of rusting
Designation of degree of cracking

Part 5
Part 6

Designation of degree of flaking

Designation of degree of chalking

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ISO 4628 / 1
General principles and rating schemes
Uniform deterioration.
Rating scheme for designation the intensity of deterioration
consisting of a uniform change in the
visual appearance of the paint coating.
Rating

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Intensity of change

unchanged, i.e. no perceptible change

very slight, i.e. just perceptible change

slight i.e. clearly perceptible change

moderate, i.e. very clearly perceptible change

considerable, i.e. pronounced change

severe, i.e. intense change

ISO 4628 / 1
General principles and rating schemes
Scattered defects.
Rating scheme for designating the quantity of defects consisting
of discontinuities or other local imperfections of the paint coating.
Rating

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Quantity of defects
(relative to a test surface area of 1 to 2 dm)

none, i.e. no detectable defects

very few, i.e. some just significant defects

few, i.e. small but significant amount of defects

Moderate, i.e. medium amount of defects

considerable, i.e. serious amount of defects

dense, i.e. dense pattern of defects

ISO 4628 / 1
General principles and rating schemes
Rating scheme for designating
the size (order of magnitude) of defects
Class
0

not visible under 10 X magnification

only visible under magnification up to 10 X

just visible with normal corrected vision

clearly visible with normal corrected vision (up to 0,5 mm)

range 0,5 to 5 mm

larger than 5 mm

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Size of defect

ISO 4628 / 1

Test report
The test report shall contain at least the following information:
a) the type and identification of the product tested
b) a reference to this International Standard (ISO 4628/1)
c) the type of defect
d) the intensity of the defect (table 1) or,
e) the quantity of the defect (table 2)
f) the rating, if any, of the size of the defect in brackets preceded
by the letter S.
Examples:
cratering of top coat : 2 (S3)
whitening : 4
rivelling : 3 (S2)
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ISO 4628 / 2
Designation of degree of blistering
Rating
Rate the density and size of the blisters in a paint coating by means of the pictorial standards
NOTE - The photographic reference standards have been adopted from ASTM D 714-56
The correlation between the ISO and the ASTM rating system is as shown in the table.
Table - Correlation between ISO and ASTM rating systems

Density
ASTM
None
(less than few)

ASTM

ISO

0
1

(smaller than 8)

Medium

Dense

29

ISO

Few

Medium - Dense

Paint School

Size

ISO 4628 / 2
Designation of degree of blistering
Test report
The test report shall contain at least the following information:
a) the type and identification of the product tested
b) a reference to this International Standard (ISO 462/2)
c) the numerical rating of the density of blistering
d) the numerical rating of the size of blistering.
for example: blisters 2 (S2)
Where a test piece exhibits blisters of varying size, quote as
the size rating that of the largest blisters which are numerous
enough to be typical of the test piece.
e) the date of the examination
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ISO 4628 - 2

Degree of blistering
Blisters of size 5

Density
2

Density 4
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Density 3

Density 5

Degree of blistering
Osmotic blistering in WBT
Two size and intensity of blisters

4934-0068

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4226-0064

ISO 4628 / 3
Designation of degree of rusting
Rating
Designate the degree of rust formation by
reference to the pictorial standards
Degree

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Area rusted %

Ri 0

Ri 1

0,05

Ri 2

0,5

Ri 3

Ri 4

Ri 5

40/50

Assessment of area ratio

for coating breakdown
0.1 %
.
. .
. .

3.0 %

10 %

20 %

30 %

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1.0 %

ISO 4628 / 3

Designation of degree of rusting

Test report:
The test report shall contain at least the following information:
a) the type and identification of the product tested
b) a reference to this International Standard (ISO 4628/3)
c) the numerical rating of the rusted area
d) the numerical rating of the size of the rust spots, if desired,
for example: Rust: Ri 3 (S4) =
rusted area, as a percentage of rust, approximates standard 3,
the sizes of the individual rust spots of the order of a few
millimetres.
e) the date of the examination
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ISO 4628 - 3

Degree of rusting
Ri 5

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ISO 4628 / 4
Designation of degree of cracking
Rating
Rate the quantity of cracking by reference to table 2 of ISO 4628/1 and using as
examples figures 1 or 2, depending on the type of cracking
Rating scheme for the designation of the size of cracks
Class
0
1
2
3
4
5

Size of cracks
Not visible under 10 X magnification
Only visible under magnification up to X 10
Just visible with normal corrected vision
Clearly visible with normal corrected vision
Large cracks generally up to 1 mm wide
Very large cracks generally more than 1 mm wide

Three main types of failure by cracking are to be distinguished:

a)
surface cracks which do not fully penetrate the top coat
b)
cracks which penetrate the top coat, the underlying coat(s) being substantially unaffected;
c)
cracks which penetrate the whole coating
system

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ISO 4628 / 4
Designation of degree of cracking
Test report:
a) the type and identification of the product tested
b) a reference to this International Standard (ISO 4628/4)
c) the numerical rating of the quantity of cracking
d) the numerical rating of the size of cracking
e) the depth of cracking (a. b. or c), where possible,
for example: cracking 2 (S3) b
If necessary, the standard assessment may be amplified in
words, for example linear cracking. The use of such
comments shall, however, be avoided wherever possible
e) the date of the examination
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ISO 4628 - 4

Evaluation of cracking
Quantity
1

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ISO 4628 - 4

Evaluation of cracking.
Quantity
1

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Evaluation of cracking
Left: Thick old alkyd paint has been under stress
Right: Too thick paint film (Cracking)

4934-0063

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0807-30

ISO 4628 / 5
Designation of degree of flaking
Scale for the quantity of flaking
Class
Flaked area
0
1
2
3
4
5

0
0,1
0,3
1
3
15

Scale the average size of areas

Class
Size of flaking
0
1
2
3
4
5

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not visible
under X magnification
up to 1 mm
up to 3 mm
up to 10 mm
up to 30 mm
larger than 30 mm

The main types of failure by

flaking are to be distinguished:
a) Top coats flaking from
underlying coat;
b) Whole coating system
flaking from substrate

ISO 4628 / 5
Designation of degree of flaking
Test report
The test report shall contain at least the following information:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

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the type and identification of the product tested

a reference to this International Standard (ISO 4628/5)
the numerical rating of the quantity of flaking
the numerical rating of the size of flaking
the depth of flaking (a or b),
for example: flaking 3 (S2) a

ISO 4628 - 5

Evaluation of flaking.
Quantity
1

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ISO 4628 - 5

Evaluation of flaking.
Quantity
1

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ISO 4628 / 6
Evaluation of chalking
Part 6:
Rating of degree of chalking by tape method
Self-adhesive, transparent tape, of width
25 mm + 10 mm
Chalking is removed by adhering to the tape
Black or white background
Comparing the amount of chalk on the tape
with pictorial reference standard
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ISO 4628 / 6
Rating of degree of chalking by tape method
Test report
a) all details necessary for the identification of the product tested;
b) a reference to this International Standard (ISO 4628-6);
c) the type of weathering (artificial or natural) of the coating;
d) all details necessary for the identification of the adhesive tape
used;
e) all details necessary for the identification of the substrate used
as background for the adhesive tape;
f) the numerical rating of the degree of chalking;
g) any deviation from the procedure specified;
h) the date of the examination
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Chalking
Appearance Almost like dust on top of the coat

The gloss will be reduced

Pigments and extenders exposed on
the paint surface, due to
Exposure to sun / UV light
Degradation of the binder
Weathering of the paint
Insufficient mixing of the paint

Grind and/or wash top layer of the paint

Recoat

Caused by

Repair
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ISO 4628 - 6

Chalking

Extreme case of chalking

Due to degradation by exposure to sunlight

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Standards relating methods for

evaluation of degradation of coatings
Property

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Standard / Test method

Blistering

ISO 4628 - 2, ASTM D 714

DIN 53209, BS 3900 H2

Rust grade

ISO 4628 - 3, ASTM D 610

DIN 53210, BS 3900 H3

Cracking

ISO 4628 - 4, ASTM D 661

DIN ISO 4628, BS 3900 H4

Flaking

ISO 4628 - 5, DIN ISO 4628

BS 3900 H5

Chalking

ISO 4628 - 6

Bleeding
Appearance

Caused by

Repair

Discolouration of a paint, particularly in

topcoats
Coloured ingredients in a previous coat or on
the substrate is dissolved by solvents in the
subsequent coat, e.g.
Soluble pigments (Poor solvent resistance)
Tar, Bitumen, etc.
Surface contaminants (coloured)
Re-blasting and re-application

Note: Bleeding may continue through

additional coats unless source is removed
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Bleeding
Tar epoxy bleeding through yellow vinyl coat

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Delamination
(Adhesion failure)
Appearance
Loss of adhesion:
Intercoat delamination: Between coats
Substrate delamination : Between primer and substrate
Caused by
Primer not compatible with subsequent coat
Contamination of substrate or between coats
Recoating interval too long
Blooming / sweating
Repair
Remove loose paint layer or down to substrate
Recoat
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Delamination (intercoat)
Intercoat delamination due to:

Too long recoating interval

4226-37

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Condensation

4226-36

Mud-cracking
Appearance
Cracks occurring during the drying process of the paint
Appearance of the surface of cracked mud
Caused by
Particularly for inorganic Zinc applied at a too high film
thickness
Repair
Re-blast to Sa 2 or grind off
Apply the inorganic Zinc

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Mud-cracking
Mud cracking of Zinc silicate
Paint applied at too high a thickness

4934-62

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Cracking / Alligatoring
Soft coat under a hard coat

0807-19

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4934-61