Field Joint Coating
Field Joint Coating
FIELD JOINT
COATING
PROJECT Laying & Construction of 12” & 4” NB U/G Steel Pipeline Network & Associated
Works at Udupi (Karnataka)
Revision History
00 03.03.2020 For Approval
1.0 SCOPE:
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PROCEDURE FOR
FIELD JOINT
COATING
This chapter covers the procedure for joint coating of field weld joints & coating repair of Pre-coated
pipe sections and joint coating repair.
2.0 REFERENCE:
3.0 EQUIPMENT:
1. Air Compressor
2. Sand Blasting
3. Holiday Detector
4. Heating Torch
5. Peal torch test
6. Joint coating unit
7. Coating thickness gauge
8. Surface profile gauge
9. Digital thermometer
4.0 PROCEDURE:
After acceptance of weld joints in pipe sections, joint coating shall be carried out before lowering & in
the ditch for tie in weld joints.
1. Joint coating material will be Heat Shrink Wrap around sleeves and for coating repair will be "PERP"
material.
2. Sleeve system comprises of two parts:
a. Adhesive coated wrap around the sleeve.
b. A curable modified two components Epoxy primer
c. Cure & Base to be mixed thoroughly (1 part of Cure & 3 part Base)
d. In the mixing cup properly with mixing sticks for about 30 seconds to assure uniform mixing.
e. These materials shall be stored as long as possible in the manufacture's original packaging and away from
direct sunlight and in accordance with the instructions of the manufacturer.
f. Material shall not be older than the period of validity at the time of application.
g. Manufactures batch test reports/certificates indicating all the properties listed in AGL specifications shall
be submitted to AGL for each batch of materials supplied at site.
1. Before starting of work, approval shall be obtained from AGL for joint co procedure with
demonstration, materials, equipment with the entire catalogue coating, manufacturer
recommendation etc. AIPL shall arrange manufacture expert supervisor during the application
procedure qualification and during the construction. Only qualified Insulators with proper ID card
shall be engaged on job. The joint coating procedure qualification record shall be recorded.
2. Prior to use of joint coating materials, following documents need to be verified & referred .
a. The ends of existing coating on both sides of weld joint shall be inspected, un-Bounded coating, if any,
shall be removed and ends shall be chamfered at an Angle of 20 to 30 deg. from pipe line surface.
b. Before application of coating material, pipe surface shall be thoroughly cleaned of oil, grease or any
foreign maters by wiping with rags soaked with non naphtha based suitable solvents such as benzene
and dried followed by compressed air blasting using mineral abrasive / coarse sand in accordance
with SSPC - SP1 code.
c. The abrasive blast materials / coarse sand should be dry and free from any impurities, inclusions or oil
and abrasives shall be removed after blasting using brush or compressed air before application of
coating. While blast cleaning, the surface temperature of pipe must be at least 3deg above the dew
point. Blast cleaning operation should not be carried out if relative humidity exceeds 85%.
d. The compressed air used for blasting operation should be dry& free from oil and water. It should be
checked at the time of start of blast cleaning and thereafter, every 4 Hrs. Separators & trap shall be
installed on compressor for effective moisture and oil removal.
e. After blast cleaning, the cleaned pipe surface shall be inspected for defects such as silvers,
laminations, leafing, scores and indentation slugs; same shall be repaired by grinding as directed by
AGL field Engineer.
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PROCEDURE FOR
FIELD JOINT
COATING
f. The standard finish for cleaned, pipe surface should conform to SA 2 ½ Swedish Standard SIS 055900.
The pipe after blasting should have an anchor pattern of 50 to 70 micron. This shall be measured
using a suitable instrument such as Electrometer.
a. After blasting and cleaning the surface to be pre-heated to 60° C ± 10° C with LPG burners prior to
application of primer. The temperature should be checked using digital temperature indicator. Care
should be taken to avoid damage to existing coating.
b. Liquid epoxy primer, mixed in appropriate ratio (1 part cure & 3 part Base)is to be applied on the
joint surface & adjacent pipe immediately after heating operation.
c. Upon pre-heating the pipe surface shall be applied with two pack epoxy primer of wet film thickness
200micron.
d. The heat shrink sleeve shall be wrapped around the joint after applying mixed primer, overlapping
the existing pipe coating by min100 mm on each side for CTE/OFBE and min 50mm on each side for
3LPE. The wrap around sleeve should be wrapped around the pipe by positioning the closer patch off
to one side of the pipe in 10'0 clock or 2'0 clock position having the edge of the under laying layer
facing upward with the upper layer overlapping by 100 mm.
e. The sleeve shall be tightly around the pipe joint by heating with LPG torch and Force followed by
roller pressing over the surface when heated up to100C. The finished coating should have no
entrapped air bubbles. The coating should not be disturbed until the adhesive has solidified.
f. For maintaining the required coating thickness, removal of entrapped air from the weld seam, extra
hot melt adhesive shall be applied on both side of the weld seam as per requirement before wrapping
around the sleeve.
g. For HDD joints coating fiber glass reinforced heat shrinkable sleeves certified to stress class C60
type DIREX sleeves shall be used. Directional drilling kit, multilayer sleeves system or equivalent to
e approved by AGL.
h. For the buried valve station, elbow etc. high build epoxy coating may be used. Powercrete R-95 or
equivalent as per EN 10289 – 2004 edition.
5. COATING REPAIRS(3LPE):
a. For field repair of coating defects, which have been caused during transportation from stockpile to
ROW or during handling, stringing, operations, the following repair procedure will be adopted.
b. All coated pipes with damages to coating will be repaired by using PERP Sleeve
system.
c. Full girth repair on the coated pipes shall be carried out with heat shrinkable sleeves type HTLP - 60
if the defect area is more than 100CM2 and patch repair shall be carried out with Repair patch if the
defective area is less than 100 CM2.
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PROCEDURE FOR
FIELD JOINT
COATING
d. For repair of defective area more than 100 CM2, the area to be repaired shall be brush cleaned to
remove white paint on coated surface, loose coating, oil, grease, mud, earth or any other foreign
materials and shall be pre-heated up to 60 degree Celcius . In case damage is to the extent of pipe
surface, the pipe surface in and around the damage portion should be exposed and properly cleaned.
Before pre-heating a coat of 100% solvent free liquid epoxy primer shall be applied on the prepared
surface. HTLP-60sleeves shall be applied as per the joint coating procedure mentioned above.
6. COATING REPAIRS(DFBE):
a. For field repairs of DFBE coating defects, which have been caused during transportation from
stockpile to ROW or during handling/stringing operations, the following repair procedure should be
adopted.
b. All coating pipes to damages with coating shall be repaired by PERP 80.
c. Full girth repair on the coated pipes shall be carried out with heat shrinkable sleeves type HTLP-60 if
the defective area is larger than 4000sq mm or more than 125 mm in length and patch repair shall be
carried out using high build liquid epoxy R .95 if the defective area is less than4000 sq mm or less
than 125 mm in length.
d. Damaged coating area and holidays shall be cleaned by removing all rust, scale, loose coating, dirt or
other foreign materials with hand or power driven wire brushes. The area surrounding the repair shall
also be suitably the area surrounding the repair shall also be suitably roughened and cleaned for
proper adhesion of repair materials.
e. Take part A and part B of R 95 in required proportions (3.6: 1 by volume or100: 16 by weight) in a
clean container and thoroughly mix it until completely blended. Apply successive thin layer of repair
material until desired thickness is achieved.
ii. There shall be no sign of punchers or pinholes. External appearance of the sleeve / PERP shall be
smooth, free of dimples, air entrapment avoid formation and cold spot. All entrapped shall be
removed withoutundue heating.
iii. Weld bead profile shall be visible through the sleeve.
2. The completed field joint coating shall have an average thickness of 2mm. and minimum
permissible thickness at the weld seam shall be1.6mm
4. Full circle holiday detection for Punchers, Pinholes, External appearance, Dimples. Wrinkles etc... ,
shall be carried out. Holiday detector used shall be checked & calibrated daily with an accurate DC
voltmeter. The detector electrode shall be in direct contact with the entire circumference of the
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PROCEDURE FOR
FIELD JOINT
COATING
coating to be inspected. The entire surface of the joint shall be inspected by means of a full circle
holiday detector approved by company set at a DC voltage 25KV. The test voltage shall be 25 KV.
25 kv for CTC/3LPE and 3kv for DFPE coated pipe.
5. Inspection shall be conducted only after the joint has cooled below 50°C.
6. No field joints shall be lowered or backfilled until it has been approved by AGL.
7. One out of every 50 finished joint coating or one joint coating out of everyday production whichever is
less shall be subjected to peel test by peeling - off a strip of 25 mm X 200 mm. below.
ii. Perpendicular to pipe axis
iii. Over the overlap portion of the pipe coating.
8. No failure either adhesion to steel adhesion to backing or adhesion to pipe coating is permitted. The
test is accepted only when peeled strip comes out only from the adhesive layer of the joint coating.
The required peel strength shall be as per DIN - 30672.
• Stop further joint coating until remedial measures are taken against the cause of failure.
• Two more coated joints (randomly selected) of that day productions are subjected to peel testing and
if any of these fails. The entire production of the day is to be rejected.
The coating operation should recommence only after remedial measures are taken and accepted by
AGL.
The required peel strength shall meet the requirement of DIN 30672.
50 5 0.51
45 7 0.71
40 10 1.01
35 20 2.03
30 30 3.05
25 45 4.58
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PROCEDURE FOR
FIELD JOINT
COATING
20 60 6.11
15 80 8.15
10 100 10.19
5 120 12.23
0 150 15.29
6.0 DOCUMENTATION:
Note : In case of any conflict between the requirements of this procedure and that of above referred
specification, requirements of the later shall govern, until and unless specific intention meant.
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