The Influence of Surface Preparation of the Steel during the Renovation of the Car Body on Its Corrosion Resistance

The article presents the influence of the applied method used for removing the varnish coat on the corrosion resistance of the car body sheet. The tests were carried out on samples prepared from factory-painted car body elements with pearlescent, metallized and acrylic varnish. Removal of the varnish coat was performed by sandpaper grinding, glass bead blasting, disc blaze rapid stripping, soda blasting and abrasive blasting with plastic granules. The average thickness of the factory-painted coating depending on the type of lacquer ranged from about 99 to 140 µm. On the other hand, after removing the varnish, the thickness of the protective zinc coating ranged from 2 to 12.7 µm. The highest values of the zinc coating were obtained for samples in which the varnish was removed by the method such as soda blasting and abrasive blasting with plastic granules. For these two methods of surface preparation, the damage to the zinc layer protecting the steel against corrosion is the smallest and the percentage of zinc in the surface layer ranges from 58% to 78%. The final stage of the research was to test the samples after removing the varnish coat in a two-hour exposure to the corrosive environment in a salt spray chamber. Samples with the surface prepared by grinding with sandpaper reached the level of surface rusting Ri 5, while in the case of soda blasting and the use of plastic granules, no corrosion centers were observed on the surface of the car body sheet.