Saltwater spray test

The salt water spray test, often simply referred to as salt spray test, has been over more than a century used to test the corrosion resistance of protective systems on metal.

The test consists of a continuous salt spray at 35 °C with a NaCl concentration of 5 % mass/mass, and a spray quantity of 1 cl per 80 cm2 per 24 hours.

The salt spray test is often criticized, because it does not simulate reality (too high a salt concentration, the wrong saline solution, continuous spraying and no irradiation), and so there is no correlation with practice. On the other hand there are the advantages of the availability of an huge amount of measurement data, the rapid changes in paint formulations and the fact that the test turns out to be excellently suited for comparative testing, quality control and a first raw material of choice.

The salt spray test is often part of cyclic tests.The most widely used standards are ISO 9227, ASTM B 117 or IEC 60068-2-11. In salt spray testing are a number of variables. The most common test is the neutral salt spray test, but in addition there are also the acidic salt spray test and the cupper-accelerated salt spray test. Furthermore, there are specifications and standards that includes other salts and / or salt concentrations and also there are salt spray cyclic tests. COT can perform all of these variations.