>> Training and certification of personnel
The IIS Group offers specific training courses in the field of protective coatings, including courses specifically aimed at qualifications/certifications in accordance with Corrosion Protection Guideline for Railway industry issued by AICQ, with particular reference to the following professional profiles.
- Corrosion protection coordinator in railway industry (CCF)
- Non-destructive and destructive testing inspector for corrosion protection systems in railway industry (ICF)
- Operators (applicators) of corrosion protection systems in railway industry (OAF).
All courses are organized in theoretical parts, tailored on the type of course, and practical parts.
>> Protective coating systems approval and certification
The IIS Group is able to carry out LAB tests (UNI, ISO, ASTM) as part of the certification/approval procedure of protective coating systems for different industrial sectors: transportation, Oil & Gas and civil structures. Tests allow to verify the properties of the coating systems with regard to corrosion resistance, heat/thermal shock resistance, chemical resistance, abrasion resistance, in order to ensure regulatory requirements as far as service reliability.
In addition, the IIS Group provides LAB tests focused to evaluate long term in service expected performances of paints and coatings, in order to minimize the uncertainty associated to the “selection/ definition” of best performing coating system during design phase of components.
>> Third party inspections of applicators quality process
IIS Group with expert personnel is able to assist Clients through inspection and certification activities of anticorrosion systems applicators as far as through surveillance and certification renewal processes.
>> Assistance in developing technical documentation
IIS Group can support Clients in the preparation and revision of Painting Specifications, Inspection Test Plans (ITP) and Quality Control Plans (QCP) for surface protection activities.
>> Technical assistance, coordination, inspection and control
Historically, the Italian Institute of Welding Group has been involved, providing its services, in activities related to steel infrastructures (bridges, viaducts, etc), steel works related to Oil & Gas sectors, pressure vessel and piping.
In particular for corrosion protection activities, IIS is able to offer support by Inspectors certified by NACE and FROSIO (Lev. 2 and Lev. 3), with survey of the entire process of corrosion protection by protective coatings (organic, hot dip galvanizing, metallization, etc.), from the selection of products to surface preparation, application and NDT.
IIS Group also has AICQ-CCF certified coordinators able to perform supervision and inspection activities related to the corrosion protection in the railway industry, and all the required tools/equipment for the execution of non-destructive and destructive testing, to verify the quality of surface preparation, paintings and other types of surface protection.
>> Failure Analysis
Every year the Industry experienced huge financial losses due to early failure of coating systems and corrosion protection.
Premature degradation of coating may be induced by multiple causes, with different complexity, even though in most cases the failure event is induced by non proper product application, non proper product selection or a "poor" and incomplete coating specification. The determination of the root causes of early failures is of outstanding importance in order to define responsibilities and, most important, to make a first and important step towards reducing the likelihood of occurrence of new failures and unplanned further economic losses.