REVIEW OF STRUCTURAL STEEL PAINT IN MAINE

This report reviews the use of lead in paint for structural steel. A comprehensive study of the bridge maintenance record for the State of Maine was made in order to evaluate the average life expectancy of various coating systems. The toxicity of lead has been known for years and is well documented. It is not the purpose of this report to convince the reader that lead is non-toxic, but rather to look at the benefits of lead as utilized by the paint industry. Realizing that lead can be toxic in certain doses, precautions taken in its handling will allow us to benefit from the use of this valuable resource without causing harm to ourselves or the environment. A study was made on the paint systems of 811 State maintained bridges located in both inland and costal communities. The major source of information was obtained from a card file at the MDOT'S Bridge Maintenance headquarters in Augusta, Maine, which contains maintenance records for each bridge. The information in these records for each bridge. The to the present. The life spans of the paint systems were determined by referring to the frequency of paint maintenance performed on the individual bridges. There are four systems included in this survey. The red lead 3 coat system is composed of a red primer (containing Pb304), a gray primer and a green finish coat (both containing basic carbonate white lead). The second system, red lead and green (only) is the same as the above mentioned 3 coat system except that the gray primer was omitted. The pigment in the finish coat of the third system, aluminum and red lead primer, is commercially pure aluminum in the form of fine polished flakes. The top coat of the fourth system, black and red lead primer, is composed of red lead, iron oxide and carbon black. (Author)

• Corporate Authors:

  Maine Department of Transportation

  Materials and Research Division, Box 1208, Hogan Road
  Bangor, ME  United States  04402
• Authors:
  • Leyland, D S
  • Hsu, M T
• Publication Date: 1979-12

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 14 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Highway bridges; Lead (Metal); Maintenance practices; Paint; Protective coatings; Service life; Structural steel; Surveys
• Old TRIS Terms: Paint system
• Subject Areas: Design; Geotechnology; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Materials; I34: Steels and Metals;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00316480
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 79-11 Tech Paper
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 19 1981 12:00AM