Some of the world’s most ancient, but still viable, organisms have since the beginning of maritime caused problems for the industry. The problems affect both the longlivety and efficiency of ships which is caused by the mere presence of organisms attached to the ship hulls. The organisms, called biofoulers, causes problems with longlivety related to moisture and crevice corrosion which break down the hull material. The problem regarding efficiency of the ship is related to the added hydrodynamical resistance that the biofoulers cause. To limit fouling in the marine industry, paint poisonous to the biofoulers is applied to prohibit growth. Until recent the paint seemed to be a long-term solution but severe damage to the sea life has been traced to the use of antifouling paint. This master thesis aims on exploring one putative solution to the problems related to biofouling. In a maritime perspective, advanced stainless steels are modern materials with use limited to fittings and certain high strength parts. However, in 2014 a small ship constructed completely in super duplex stainless steel 2507 was launched. Immediately the longlivety of the ship increased by several times. The approach was that no antifouling paint was necessary, but biofoulers will grow on the now non-poisonous surface. Surprisingly, in some areas of the ship the biofoulers adhered seemed to detach when driving the ship in certain speeds. This lead to the initiative to examine this mechanism further in the form of this master thesis. The master thesis was held at Sandvik Materials TechnologyAB. The main hypothesis was that adhesion of biofoulers will decrease with decreasing surface roughness. Few studies on the subject stainless steel, biofouling and surface roughness have been performed. Even fewer studies on stainless steel with metallic surface coatings and biofoulers have been performed why another hypothesis was driven: There are surface coatings which will affect growth and adhesion of biofoulers. 22 different stainless steel 2507, 3207 and 316L surface setups were produced by either polishing, coating, bending or magnetizing. Plates were analysed before being immersed in natural seawater in Brest, France for 70 days. After 70 days, the plates were taken up and two major tests were performed at site; fouling amount rank analysis and barnacle adhesion strength measurements. SEM and GDOES were used in the post-experment analysis. No sign of corrosion on the plates were found. The data was processed and results were obtained: Maximum corrosion potential, surface roughness, barnacle adhesion strength and biofouling has quite strong or strong correlations. The lowest barnacle mean adhesion strength was measured to 0.02 MPa. In practical, based on experimental formulated formulas, the low adhesion barnacles would detach in a water flow of 11 m/s.

Det har uppmärksammat att det fortfarande förekommer tenn och koppar från båtbottenfärg på fritidsbåtars skrov trots förbud av båtbottenfärger med tennföreningen TBT sedan 1989 och reglering av kopparbaserade färger sedan 1999.Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att ge en dagslägesrapport vad gäller förekomst av tenn och koppar på fritidsbåtars skrov.Under våren 2011 har tester på 336 fritidsbåtar i tre vattenområden gjorts med hjälp av en handhållen XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence, röntgenfluorescens) som genom avläsning av en yta visar halter av olika grundämnen. Testerna utfördes på vinterförvarade fritidsbåtar <12 m hos båtklubbar vid Mälaren, Storsjön och Härnösandskusten. Undersökningen visar att 73 % av båtarna i denna undersökning har halter av tenn och/eller koppar överstigande >2500 ppm, vilket är det för rapporten satta riktvärdet. Det innebär att de skulle kunna tas vidare till kemisk testning med till exempel gaskromatografi kopplad till masspektrometri (GC-MS) för att avgöra exakt vilken substans färgen innehåller. Resultatet visar också att användningen av tennfärger antingen fortfarande förekommer i liten skala eller att gamla tennfärger är så pass starka att de ger utslag genom övermålade färglager. Kopparfärg verkar användas både vid ostkusten och i insjöar.Antifoulingsystem som kan ersätta bottenfärg blir allt vanligare och det dyker upp fler och fler mer miljövänliga alternativ på marknaden. Det vanligaste alternativa systemet, båttvättar, blir dock mindre miljövänligt i och med förekomst av gammal färg innehållande skadliga substanser som tvättas av i båtborsttvättar med starkt bristfällig uppsamling och rening av avfallet/slammet. / It has been noticed that tin and copper are still present in antifouling paints residing on the hulls of leisure boats, in spite of a ban of TBT-based paints since 1989 and strict regulations regarding copper-based paints since 1999.This bachelor thesis aims to give the reader a view of the current situation regarding the presence of tin and copper on the hull of leisure boats.During the spring of 2011, 336 leisure boats in three different waters were tested with a hand-held XRF analyzer (X-Ray Fluorescence). After scanning the surface of a hull the machine displays the paint’s proportions of basic elements. Testing was performed on leisure boats, winter-stored at yacht clubs connected to the lakes Mälaren, Storsjön and the coast of Härnösand. In this study 73 % of the tested boats show levels of tin and/or copper exceeding the (for this essay) set limits of 2500 parts per million, which means they could qualify for further testing, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for example, to determine the exact substances in the paints. The results also show that tin-based paints are either still in use, albeit in small scale, or that they are strong enough to detect through another layer(s) of paint. Copper-based paints seem to be used both along the east coast and in fresh-water lakes.More and more alternative antifouling systems that are capable of replacing paints while being more environmentally friendly are reaching the market. The most common alternative, to wash the boat with brushes or with a high-pressure water jet, is somewhat less environmentally friendly when the boat is painted with harmful substances and the facilities lack proper collection and sanitation of the wastewater.