An epoxy floor coating is an essential solution for ensuring durability and resistance in high-demand environments like aircraft hangars.
Aircraft hangar floors are built with the expectation that the industrial concrete flooring will be exposed to aviation fuel, lubricants, corrosive fluids, cleaners, and waxes. Not to mention the abuse the floor will take from dropped tools, equipment carts, and aircraft tugs used in the upkeep of the aircraft. The weight of the aircraft itself, which for this multi-million-dollar Bombardier corporate jet, is at least 25,000 pounds empty weight.
The hangar’s concrete floor is a porous material
Concrete is the most used construction material for hangar floors because of its low cost and durability (it has been around for about five thousand years). But it is prone to damage, chemical attack, and unsightly stains from everything used in the hangar. The hangar’s industrial concrete flooring is a porous material and can act like a very dense sponge. Oils and other fluids used in the aircraft’s upkeep can soak right into the concrete.
Epoxy coating systems on a concrete hangar floor
This respirable epoxy floor coating system in the Bombardier hangar allows moisture transmission to move through the semi-permeable coating to the surface. It is also a non-slip floor. The light color of the epoxy floor coating helps to brighten the hangar interior and allows a more effective FOD prevention program.
Resinous (or epoxy) floor coating systems on a concrete floor can be designed to stand up to the abuse these hangar floors often receive. The right coating is designed with chemical resistance to protect the industrial concrete flooring from fluid spills. Abrasion-resistant systems protect against scrapes and gashes, and with the addition of aggregates, make the floor coating non-slip to help protect hangar personnel from slipping.
Resinous floor coatings are designed to protect industrial concrete flooring from surface abuse and exposure. But here lies one problem that can be a big concern for a coating system.
Moisture vapor transmission
Because concrete is porous, not only does it absorb fluids spilled on the surface, but it can also absorb water which transpires from the ground beneath the concrete. Moisture in or below a concrete slab will move through the concrete in a process called moisture vapor transmission.
If the air above the industrial concrete flooring surface is drier than the concrete itself, the moisture in the concrete continues to the surface to replace the evaporated water.
Floor coating mistake
In this unassociated epoxy floor coating photo, a respirable (breathable) floor coating allows the extreme amount of moisture in the concrete slab (note the water puddle), to move through the coating itself, to the surface without damage to the coating. This is the same epoxy floor coating system used in the Bombardier hangar.
Excessive moisture transmission from the ground, without the right concrete floor coating can cause problems in the floor coating adhesion and can cause floor coating failure and blistering.
Respirable epoxy floor coatings
A respirable (or breathable) epoxy floor coating system allows a concrete floor to breathe and migrates moisture through the concrete to the surface without affecting the adhesion of the coating.
