EDITOR’S LETTER
I
t is once again an Italian tragedy, thankfully an escaped one this time, the starting point of the editorial of this ipcm®_Protective Coatings issue, which focusses on technologies aimed
at protecting and safeguarding bridges and infrastructure against corrosion and failure. A
viaduct of the Turin-Genoa highway collapsed due to the torrential rain that poured down non-stop in November. A driver’s readiness and cool-headedness luckily averted the tragedy: the incident ended with no victims, but with another structure closed for an indeȴnite period
of time. In this case, the structural failure was not, or at least not only, due to corrosion, but rather to a landslide. However, the episode further placed the state of preservation of Italian bridges under a magnifying glass, as most of them were built between 1955 and 1980. The result of this analysis raised the number of risky bridges needing an inspection from 10,000 to 60,000. Many actions should be implemented and several parties call for the implementation of a “Marshall Plan” for the Italian infrastructure. The rest of Europe does not sail in calmer waters, since some countries have more bridges and viaducts in a critical state than Italy, not to mention the United States, where NACE studies have repeatedly highlighted a dangerous situation. Maintenance is essential, but it is well known that prevention is far more eective, especially because the environmental and use conditions of infrastructure are becoming more and more severe. This last 2019 issue of ipcm®_Protective Coatings presents an extensive overview of technologies to counter the corrosion of bridges, viaducts, and road infrastructure in general, such as thermal spray coatings, once limited to factory applications but now widely tired and tested even for on-site operations; FEVE resins for paint formulations with exceptional outdoor resistance; and low-environmental impact painting systems, such as the waterbased ones that integrate pigments, resins, and binders tailored to guarantee corrosion resistance, but with less environmental impact than conventional solvent-based systems. It also includes an in-depth report of the Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering “G.bNatta” of Politecnico di Milano about “Polymer modiȴed cementitious coatings on concrete to control chloride-induced corrosion of steel rebars”. Politecnico di Milano, and especially its PoliLaPP “Pietro Pedeferri” laboratory, is a centre of excellence in the world for research on corrosion control technologies. We hope that the prevention and maintenance of bridges and infrastructure will never again be solicited by catastrophic collapses, but that a wide-ranging intervention plan will be implemented so that we can continue to safely drive, walk, and travel on and under the bridges of our countries.
Alessia Venturi Editor-in-chief
ipcm® Protective Coatings - 2019 DECEMBER - N.32
01