The coating that covers the cutback, a few inches either side of each girth weld, that the mill leaves bare so the weld can be made. Options include two-part liquid epoxies, heat-shrink sleeves, tapes and induction-heated FBE. Field joints are the weak link of a pipeline coating because they are applied in mud, wind and heat, so they get careful blasting, preheat, holiday testing and inspection.
Field joint coating crew is two joints behind the welders, nobody lowers in until they're jeeped.
Also heard as
- girth weld coating
- field joint
Related terms
FBE
Fusion-bonded epoxy: a powder coating fused onto heated pipe, the standard external line pipe coating.
Jeep
Pipeline slang for the high-voltage holiday detector, and also for the coating flaws it finds.
Holiday
Pinhole, void or bare spot in a coating that leaves the metal underneath exposed.
Cathodic disbondment
Loss of coating adhesion around a holiday caused by the alkali and hydrogen that cathodic protection generates.