Infrastructure

Bridges

An example of infrastructure where the Metal Spray process is utilised is the anti-corrosive protection of bridges. Bridges are a significant investment and can span roads, railways or rivers, making maintenance of the steel structure costly in both time and money. For this reason, a high performance and proven corrosion protection coating is often required and specified. Bridge steelwork is very large making metal spraying an ideal solution as work can be completed on-site without the need to dismantle structures.

Around the world, thermal sprayed zinc (TSZ), thermal sprayed aluminium (TSA) or thermal spray zinc/aluminium (TSZA) coatings are commonly specified and applied to give a life to first maintenance of the coating in excess of 20 years. The choice of material often depends on the environmental conditions expected for the bridge structure or sometimes local familiarity with a given material.

New Zealand has many bridge applications including the Auckland Harbour Bridge (NZ) (1958) and the Te Rewa Rewa Footbridge (NZ). Other bridges that have been coated include The Forth Road Bridge (UK) (1964), and the Pierre-Laporte Suspension Bridge across the St Lawrence near Quebec, Canada (where from 1977-79 some 165,000m² was coated after failure of the original paint system over a six year period), Humber Bridge (UK), The Bosphorus Bridge (Turkey), Tsing Ma Bridge (Hong Kong), The Clifton Suspension Bridge (UK).

For more Metal Spraying applications on Bridges, Click Here.