CUI (corrosion under insulation) is a pervasive, difficult and high-liability issue for petrochemical, power, shipping, and other industries. Situational variations (meteorological, geographical, seasonal, etc.) can confound conventionally specified surface preparation attempts to achieve perfect or near-perfect metal hygiene, thus reducing expected coating life by 30 to 75 percent. Because conventional surface preparation processes have historically been unable to adequately relieve microcontamination of metal surfaces, organizations have settled for an uneasy balance between economic and physical feasibilities that exclude the possibility of achieving ideal surface preparation outcomes and rely more heavily upon barrier coatings to supply needed corrosion control.