Innovative and efficient tank maintenance

Despite the added complications of working in a pandemic, 3X Engineering successfully completed a tank repair earlier this year In July 2020 pipeline repair and protection specialist 3X Engineering was asked to reinforce a tank suffering from severe external corrosion leading to a through wall defect (a hole measuring 15x15 mm and depth 5 mm). After analysis of the tank and defect characteristics, 3X Engineering decided to repair the installation using a Reinforcekit Patch, specially designed for tank long-term repair. According to ISO 24.817 and 3X repair calculations, they applied 6 Kevlar patches covered with epoxy resin (size 300x300mm). Before starting the repair, surface preparation was completed using Bristle Blaster to get a good surface roughness (between 60 and 100 µm) and thus ensure a good bonding between the steel tank and the composite system. Hygrometric conditions were checked and the whole prepared surface was cleaned with acetone before starting the reinforcement. The composite repair was then performed following the steps below: F3XS1 filler (epoxy filler with high mechanical properties and chemical resistance) was applied on the defect to plug it. ...