Society for Protective Coatings

Designation: D 610 – 08 SSPC-VIS-2

Standard Practice for

Evaluating Degree of Rusting on Painted Steel Surfaces1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation D 610; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
This standard has been approved for use by agencies of the Department of Defense.

1. Scope 3.2 The degree of rusting is evaluated using a zero to ten

1.1 This practice covers the evaluation of the degree of scale based on the percentage of visible surface rust.
rusting on painted steel surfaces. The visual examples which 3.3 The distribution of the rust is classified as spot rust,
depict the percentage of rusting given in the written specifica- general rust, pinpoint rust or hybrid rust.

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tions form part of the standard. In the event of a dispute, the 4. Interferences
written definition prevails. These visual examples were devel-
oped in cooperation with SSPC: The Society for Protective 4.1 The visual examples that are part of this practice and the
Coatings to further standardization of methods. The photo- associated rust-grade scale cover only rusting evidenced by
graphs can be used to estimate the percentage of other coating visible surface rust.
defects on various substrates. This standard does not include 4.2 The use of the visual examples requires the following

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evaluation of rust propagation around an initially prepared cautions:
scribe, score, or holiday. 4.2.1 Some finishes are stained by rust. This staining must
1.2 This standard does not purport to address all of the not be confused with the actual rusting involved.
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the 4.2.2 Accumulated dirt or other material may make accurate
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro- determination of the degree of rusting difficult.
priate safety and health practices and determine the applica- 4.2.3 Certain types of deposited dirt that contain iron or iron
bility of regulatory limitations prior to use. compounds may cause surface discoloration that should not be
mistaken for corrosion.
2. Referenced Documents 4.2.4 Failure may vary over a given area. Discretion must
2.1 ASTM Adjunct/SSPC: The Society for Protective Coat- therefore be used when selecting a single rust grade or rust
ings: distribution that is to be representative of a large area or
SSPC-VIS 2/ASTM D 610 Standard Method of Evaluating structure, or in subdividing a structure for evaluation.
Degrees of Rusting on Painted Steel Surfaces2 4.2.5 The color of the finish coating should be taken into
account in evaluating surfaces as failures will be more apparent
3. Significance and Use on a finish that shows color contrast with rust, such as used in
3.1 The amount of rusting beneath or through a paint film is these reference standards, than on a similar color, such as an
a significant factor in determining whether a coating system iron oxide finish.
should be repaired or replaced. This practice provides a
5. Procedure
standardized means for quantifying the amount and distribution
of visible surface rust. 5.1 Select an area to be evaluated.
5.2 Determine the type of rust distribution using definitions
in Table 1 and visual examples in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3.
1
This practice is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee D01 on Paint and 5.3 Estimate percentage of surface area rusted using the
Related Coatings, Materials, and Applications and is the direct responsibility of visual examples in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3 or SSPC-VIS 2, or
Subcommittee D01.46 on Industrial Protective Coatings. both, by electronic scanning techniques or other method agreed
This practice has been jointly approved by ASTM and SSPC: The Society for
Protective Coatings. upon by contracting parties.
Current edition approved Feb. 1, 2008. Published March 2008. Originally 5.4 Do not consider flow of corrosion products onto the
approved in 1941. Last previous edition approved in 2007 as D 610 – 07.
2
surface of intact coating (that is, “rust bleed” or staining) as
Colored visual examples are available at a nominal cost from ASTM Interna-
tional Headquarters (request Adjunct ADJD0610A), SSPC Publication No. 00-08
part of the surface area rust. It may be helpful to wipe the
from The Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC), 40 24th St., 6th Floor, Pittsburgh, surface with a damp cloth to remove the rust bleed before
PA 15222-4656, http://www.sspc.org. evaluating.

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 D 610 – 08
TABLE 1 Scale and Description of Rust Ratings

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Visual Examples
Rust Grade Percent of Surface Rusted Spot(s) General (G) Pinpoint (P)
10 Less than or equal to 0.01 percent None
9 Greater than 0.01 percent and up to 0.03 percent 9–S 9–G 9–P
8 Greater than 0.03 percent and up to 0.1 percent 8–S 8–G 8–P
7 Greater than 0.1 percent and up to 0.3 percent 7–S 7–G 7–P
6 Greater than 0.3 percent and up to 1.0 percent 6–S 6–G 6–P
5 Greater than 1.0 percent and up to 3.0 percent 5–S 5–G 5–P
4 Greater than 3.0 percent and up to 10.0 percent 4–S 4–G 4–P
3 Greater than 10.0 percent and up to 16.0 percent 3–S 3–G 3–P
2 Greater than 16.0 percent and up to 33.0 percent 2–S 2–G 2–P
1 Greater than 33.0 percent and up to 50.0 percent 1–S 1–G 1–P
0 Greater than 50 percent None

Rust Distribution Types:

S: Spot Rusting—Spot rusting occurs when the bulk of the rusting is concentrated in a few localized areas of the painted surface. The visual examples depicting this
type of rusting are labeled 9-S through 1-S (See Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3).
G: General Rusting—General rusting occurs when various size rust spots are randomly distributed across the surface. The visual examples depicting this type of rusting
are labeled 9-G through 1-G. (See Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3).
P: Pinpoint Rusting—Pinpoint rusting occurs when the rust is distributed across the surface as very small individual specks of rust. The visual examples depicting this
type of rusting are labeled 9-P through 1-P. (See Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3).
H: Hybrid Rusting—An actual rusting surface may be a hybrid of the types of rust distribution depicted in the visual examples. In this case, report the total percent of
rust to classify the surface. 9-H through 1-H.

5.5 Use percentage of surface area rusted to identify rust 6. Report

grade (see Table 1). Assign rust rating using rust grade of 0-10
6.1 Identify sample or area evaluated.
followed by the type of rust distribution identified by S for
spot, G for general, P for pinpoint or H for Hybrid. 6.2 Report rust grade using rating of 0-10.
6.3 Report rust distribution using S for Spot, G for General,
NOTE 1—The numerical rust grade scale is an exponential function of
the area of rust. Plotting the rust grade versus area of rust results in a P for Pinpoint and H for Hybrid.
straight line in semilogarithmic coordinates. The slope of the line changes
at 10 % of the area rusted to allow it to resolve differences below 10 % 7. Precision and Bias
across rust grades from 10 to 4 while including 10 to 100 % in rust grades
3 through 0. 7.1 No precision or bias statement can be made for this
practice.
5.6 The visual examples are not required for use of the
rust-grade scale since the scale is based upon the percent of the
8. Keywords
area rusted and any method of assessing area rust may be used
to determine the rust grade. 8.1 corrosion; rusting
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 D 610 – 08

FIG. 1 Examples of Area Percentages

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 D 610 – 08
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FIG. 2 Examples of Area Percentages

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 D 610 – 08

FIG. 3 Examples of Area Percentages

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 D 610 – 08
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