Behaviour of painted aluminium in Ibero-American atmospheres

Aluminium generally presents good corrosion resistance to the atmosphere. However, unprotected aluminium and aluminium alloys weather outdoors to an ugly grey colour, which deepens to black in industrial atmospheres, and undergo superficial pitting in marine atmospheres, etc. Finishing technologies are applied for their protection and decoration in a wide range of applications. These technologies basically consist of two protection processes: anodizing and painting; the latter going from conventional solvent base paints to modern water-borne, high solids and powder coatings. This paper considers the weathering performance of three paint systems: alkyd, polyurethane and polyester, after more than three years of exposure in a wide spectra of Ibero-American atmospheric conditions. The information reported includes resistance to undercutting corrosion at the scribe, filiform corrosion, fungal attack and change in the physical-chemical properties of the paint surface (loss of gloss, colour changes, chalking, etc.).