Research Of Dynamic Performance Of Ship Antifouling Coatings

Frictional resistance increases obviously when marine biofouling occurs on the surface of ship, which leads to an increase of weight and subsequent potential speed reduction and loss of manoeuvrability. An increase of the frequency of dry-docking operations, i.e. time is lost and resources are wasted when remedial measures are applied. A large amount of toxic wastes is also generated during this process. It causes tremendous economic loss. So far, among all the different solutions proposed throughout the history of navigation, painting antifouling coating is the only way to prevent the biofouling adhesion which can be widely used.Tributyltin self-polishing copolymer paints (TBT-SPC paints) had been the most successful in combating biofouling on ships. Unfortunately, the TBT-SPC systems affect adversely the marine environment and even human health. Furthermore, after an international convention held on 5th October 2001, parties to the convention are required to ban the presence of TBT-based antifouling paints on the surface of the vessel from 1st January 2008. Now, the development of new antifouling paints mainly depends on the self-polishing mechanism and low surface energy of the paints. It needs a lot of time to exploit new antifouling paints, especially to evaluate their performances.The main purposes of this work are to design and manufacture a testing device, which permits to simulate the service condition of antifouling coatings in laboratory, to investigate the dynamic performance of the antifouling coatings.A simulation testing device was designed and manufactured, the service condition of Controlled Depletion Polymer (CDP) antifouling coatings, Self Polishing Copolymer (SPC) antifouling coatings and Fouling Release (FR) antifouling coatings were simulated in the device. The film thickness, surface roughness, surface contact angle and Copper leaching rate of all coatings were measured in termly time. The relationship between the performance and testing time, and the effect of simulating speed on the performance were studied, the antifouling mechanism of CDP,SPC and FR antifouling coatings were discussed.