Marine atmosphere with its high level of salinity and humidity is very corrosive. It has been estimated that the direct cost of marine corrosion worldwide is between 50 and 80 billion dollars every year. However, coating the industry is responsible for almost 40 % of this cost. While polymer-based coatings have been used successfully to prevent corrosion in other parts of the world, few such coatings appear to have success in the marine environment. In this paper a new type of coating (properties of both a high performance epoxy and acrylic polyurethane) was tested for preventing corrosion in the marine environment. To have a better understanding of mechanisms of attack and the long-term effects of coatings, salt fog corrosion tests were conducted to ascertain the corrosion protection capability of various coating systems in different thickness including the new coating. Using scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and profilemeters the onset and growth of corrosion were observed. A protocol was developed to identify performance and efficiency of these systems, which can help suppliers and engineers in
developing a long life coating systems for marine structure.