SSPC is a short form of Steel Structure Painting Council.
SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings was founded in
1950 as the Steel Structures Painting Council, a non-profit professional
society concerned with the use of coatings to protect industrial steel
structures. SSPC creates, publishes and maintain standards for coatings that
protect and preserve concrete, steel and other industrial and marine structures
and surfaces. These standards address surface preparation, coating selection,
coating application, environmental regulations and industry health and safety
issues to the coating industry.
SP1 - Solvent Cleaning: The method of solvent cleaning is
intended to remove “all visible oil, grease, soil, drawing and cutting
compounds, and all other soluble contaminants from steel surfaces.” by cleaning
with solvent, vapour, alkali, emulsion or steam.
SP2 - Hand Tools Cleaning: This standard covers the
removal of loose mill scale, loose rust, loose paint, and other loose
detrimental foreign matter from surfaces with the use of non-powered hand
tools. Cleaning by chipping, scraping, sanding and wire brushing to a specific
degree. Equivalent to ISO St2 Grade.
SP3 - Power tool cleaning: A mechanical method of surface
preparation widely used in industry and involving the use of power sanders or
wire brushes, power chipping hammers, abrasive grinding wheels, needle guns
etc. Although usually more effective than hand tool cleaning, it is not
considered adequate for use under severe exposure conditions or for immersion
applications. Equivalent to ISO St3 Grade.
SP4 - Flame Clean: Removal of all loose
scale, rust and other detrimental foreign matter by passing high temperature,
high velocity oxy-acetylene flames over the entire surface, followed by wire
brushing. Surface should also be free of oil, grease, dirt, soil, salts and
other contaminants.
SP5 - White Metal Blast Cleaning: The removal of all
visible rust, mill scale, paint and contaminants, leaving the metal uniformly
white or grey in appearance. This is the ultimate in blast cleaning. Use where
maximum performance of protective coatings is necessary due to exceptionally
severe conditions such as constant immersion in water or liquid chemicals.
Equivalent to ISO Sa3 Grade and NACE #1 Definition.
SP6 - Commercial Blast Cleaning: All oil, grease, dirt,
rust scale and foreign matter are completely removed from the surface and all
rust, mill scale and old paint are completely removed by abrasive blasting
except for slight shadows, streaks or discolorations caused by rust stain, mill
scale oxides or slight, tight resides of paint or coating that remain.
If the surface is
pitted, slight residue of rust or paint may be found in the bottom of pits; at
least two-thirds of each square inch of surface area shall be free of all
visible residues and the remainder shall be limited to the light residues
mentioned above. Equivalent to ISO Sa2 Grade and NACE #3 Definition.
SP7 - Brush Off Blast Cleaning: A method in which all
oil, grease, dirt, rust scale, loose mill scale, loose rust and loose paint or
coatings are removed completely. Tight mill scale and tightly-adhered rust,
paint and coatings are permitted to remain. However all mill scale and rust
must have been exposed to the abrasive blast pattern sufficiently to expose
numerous flecks of the underlying metal fairly uniformly distributed over the
entire surface. Equivalent to ISO Sa1 Grade and NACE #4 Definition.
SP8 – Pickling: Complete removal of rust and mill scale
by acid pickling, duplex pickling or electrolytic pickling.
SP9 - Weather and Blast: Weathering to remove all or part
of the mill scale followed by one of the blast cleaning standards.
SP10 - Near White Blast Cleaning: In this method, all
oil, grease, dirt, mill scale, rust, corrosion products, oxides, paint or other
foreign matter have been completely removed from the surface by abrasive
blasting, except for very light shadows, very slight streaks or slight
discolorations caused by rust stain, mill scale oxides or slight, tight
residues of paint or coating. Blast cleaning nearly to “White Metal”
cleanliness, until at least 95% of the surface area is free of all visible
residues. Equivalent to ISO Sa2.5 Grade and NACE #2.
SP11 - Power Tool Cleaning to Bare Metal: Utilizing same
equipment as Power Tool Cleaning to remove all visible coatings and
contaminants to bare metal substrate. It will be applicable where abrasive
blasting is not feasible or permissible.
SP12 - Surface Preparation and Cleaning of Metals by
Water jetting Prior to Recoating: Water jetting is the use of standard jetting
from a nozzle at high pressures (10,000 psi or higher) to prepare a surface for
coating. Intended primarily for carbon steel, but applicable on other metals,
water jetting does not create a profile on the metal substrate. However, metals
with an existing profile acceptable for painting can be cleaned with water
jetting to expose the existing profile. Water jetting will remove all loose
rust, loose mill scale, and loose coatings uniformly.
SP13 - Surface Preparation of Concrete: Describes
requirements for mechanical, chemical and thermal methods of concrete surface
preparation to improve the adhesion and longevity of coating systems. This
standard applies to all types of cementitious surfaces including cast-in-place
concrete floors and walls, precast slabs, masonry walls, and shotcrete
surfaces.
SP14 - Industrial Blast Cleaning
SP15 - Commercial Grade Power-Tool Cleaning
SP16 - Brush-Off Blast Cleaning of Coated and Uncoated
Galvanized Steel, Stainless Steels, and Non-Ferrous Metals.
