Monitoring the condition of the new coatings on the Aljaž Tower

During the restoration and conservation work in 2018, the Aljaž Tower was newly coated with Heliopur 36-00 (Helios Tblus Ltd.), a light and dark grey two-component fluorourethane coating. The two new coatings were also applied to the test panels, which are now installed at the meteorological station at Kredarica for safety reasons. Each year, these test plates are briefly brought to the laboratory at the Research Institute, ZVKDS, where portable analytical equipment (FTIR reflectance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, colorimetry) is used to carry out non-invasive analyses (without taking samples). This approach provides information on the material composition, while monitoring the condition and any material changes that may be occurring on the test tiles or the Aljaž tower due to environmental factors. In this way, the stability of the coatings under extreme conditions over a long period of time is studied and support is provided for possible timely action.