Field Testing and Cost–Benefit Evaluation of Corrosion-Protective Coatings on Winter Maintenance Equipment in the State of Ohio

Abstract

Although current estimates suggest that the United States corrosion costs reach more than $500 billion dollars each year, the adoption of corrosion-control practices will reduce these costs by 15%–35%. In fact, the annual cost of corrosion in the automotive industry in the United States alone is estimated to be $30 billion. Implementation of effective corrosion prevention strategies by departments of transportation during the winter season will increase public safety by preventing unexpected snow and ice equipment failures, decrease downtime, and provide cost savings through reduction in rust-related maintenance. Protective coatings could increase equipment lifetime and decrease maintenance costs; however, there is limited performance data to show the effectiveness of these corrosion-mitigation strategies. In this work, laboratory and in-field testing were used in combination with cost–benefit analysis to identify cost-effective, field-tested coating systems. Based on these results, a standard operating procedure for coating equipment was developed proposing the addition of any of the studied top-performing protective coatings, polyurethane coating (PC1) and UV-cured coating (UVC), to any newly assembled dump truck.