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CORROSION
Course no. 10
Corrosion is an irreversible interfacial reaction of a material (metal,
ceramic, polymer) with its environment which results in consumption
of the material or in its dissolution into the material of a component of
the environment.
Forms of corrosion
• For galvanic corrosion to occur there are three conditions which must be met:
• Metals must be far apart on the galvanic series (anode and cathode)
• These metals must be in electrical contact, and
• The metals must be exposed to an electrolyte
• Group II – Identifiable with special inspection tools
De-alloying
Exfoliation
corrosion
Cavitation
• Group III – Identifiable by microscopic examination
Stress Corrosion
Corrosion Fatigue Scaling Internal Attack
Crack
The main factors which influence the rate of
corrosion
• Temperature. Diffusion rates are controlled by temperature, so metals
corrode at faster rates at higher temperatures than at lower
temperatures.
• Conductivity. For corrosion to occur there must be a conductive
medium between the two parts of the corrosion reaction.
• Electrochemical potential. Every metal takes up a specific
electrochemical potential when immersed in a conducting liquid.
How to express the corrosion rate?
a) Inhibitors
• The corrosion inhibitors are used in areas where the electrolyte solution
is of a known and controllable quantity. On ships this occurs in onboard
equipment (boilers, tanks, pipes).
Modifying the corrosive environment
b) Cathodic protection
The principle of Cathodic Protection is to convert all the anode areas to
cathodes, by polarizing them to the same electrical potential as the
cathodes.
Low energy electrons that are picked up at a non-reactive anode bed are
given additional energy by the action of a rectifier to be more energetic
than the electrons that would be produced in the corrosion reaction.
The effect of these electrons at the structure being protected is the same as
that derived from the sacrificial anode type of cathodic protection
system. However, the anode material serves only as a source of
electrons and need not be consumed in providing protective current.
Coating the metal is used in order to interpose a corrosion resistant coating between
metal and environment. The coating may consist of:
• CP will only work when the anode and the structure to be protected are joined by
a conductive medium; e.g. sea water.
• The structures subjected to cyclic wet/dry immersion, e.g. splash zones or ballast
tanks, will only be protected for part of the time.
Surface preparation
• Abrasive Blasting. Blast cleaning using mineral abrasives (or with water of 2000
bar pressure) is the preferred method for cleaning steel prior to applying marine
coatings.
• Solvent cleaning, i.e. degreasing, is used to remove grease and oil. The final rinse
is always made using fresh solvent.
• Steam cleaning
Equipment for removing rust
• Hand tools -The most commonly used hand tools are sandpaper,
wire brushes, hand scrapers and the chipping hammer.