• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.167-177
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• 2014

New technologies for water purification are continuously emerging to address global water quality problems, and one such technology involves advanced hermetic water purification facilities made by concrete that utilize ozone treatment processes. Better knowledge about surface deterioration of epoxy coating exposed to ozone treatment is needed as a foundation for development of improved methods and materials in the future. This study utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM), nanoindentation methods, and existing indirect methods such as visual observation, changes in mass, surface observation and chrominance analysis, to evaluate epoxy water-resistance and anti-corrosiveness. This study considered six different epoxy formulations to assess typical degradation characteristics of epoxy surfaces with regard to water-resistance/anti-corrosiveness. AFM and nanoindentation techniques emerged as promising direct methods with potential to provide quantitative measures of surface quality that are improvements upon existing indirect methods. The experiments also confirmed that some of the epoxy-coatings were severely iMPacted by ozone exposure, and thus the results demonstrate that concern about such deterioration is justified.