Critical corrosion prevention
Such an investment becomes even more important when one considers the common applications for fabric structures. While some markets (e.g. event centres, and sports and recreational facilities) often require the steel framing to be enclosed within the building’s fabric-cladded walls, it is common in other industries for the I-beams to be left visible and exposed.
For applications such as commodity, fertilizer, or salt storage—or locations in humid, high-moisture environments, such as wastewater treatment plants—corrosion concerns are a significant challenge for the steel frame.
The older style hollow-tube truss frames were notorious for hidden corrosion originating inside the tube. I-beams are made of solid steel to eliminate this, but their surfaces must still be treated to protect against corrosive elements. Hot-dip galvanizing was the go-to method for this protection for decades. In recent years, the industry has shifted toward coating I-beams with epoxy paint.
Galvanizing adds a thin layer of zinc around the steel. This layer is sacrificed over the course of several years, with corrosion gradually eating it away. In effect, galvanizing is a long-term stopgap, slowing down the corrosion process as much as it can. Epoxy paint is consistently preferred as a corrosion-fighting solution because it creates a true barrier between corrosive elements and the steel framing members, thereby providing a much higher level of protection.
Epoxy coating is not new, but is frequently considered cost-prohibitive for many fabric building customers when the only way to get it involves outsourcing. When manufacturers apply the epoxy coating in-house, the overall cost may be lower.
Equally important to a project’s ultimate longevity is the ability to control the quality of the paint job. Companies with this capability no longer must rely on a third-party to do the work, but rather can bank on their professional expertise to hone in on the correct blast profiles and epoxy coating methods when preparing the I-beams for eventual shipping and installation.
