C athodic protection is a proven corrosion control method for protection of underground and undersea metallic

structures, such as oil and gas pipelines, cables, utility lines and structural foundations. Cathodic protection is now
widely applied in the protection of oil drilling platforms, dockyards, jetties, ships, submarines, condenser tubes in
heat exchangers, bridges and decks, civil and military aircraft and ground transportation systems.

The designing of cathodic protection systems is rather complex, however, it is based on simple electrochemical
principles described earlier in Chapter 2. Corrosion current flows between the local action anodes and cathodes due
to the existence of a potential difference between the two (Fig. 5.1). As shown in Fig. 5.2, electrons released in an
anodic reaction are consumed in the cathodic reaction. If we supply additional electrons to a metallic structure, more
electrons would be available for a cathodic reaction which would cause the rate of cathodic reaction to increase and
that of anodic reaction to decrease, which would eventually minimize or eliminate corrosion. This is basically the
objective of cathodic protection. The additional electrons are supplied by direct electric current. On application of
direct current, the potential of the cathode shifts to the potential of the anodic area. If sufficient direct current is
applied, the potential difference between the anode and cathode is eliminated and corrosion would eventually cease
to occur.

Perancangan sistem perlindungan katodik agak rumit, namun, ini didasarkan pada prinsip-prinsip elektrokimia
sederhana yang dijelaskan sebelumnya pada Bab 2. Aliran arus korosi antara anoda aksi lokal dan katoda karena
adanya perbedaan potensial antara keduanya (Gbr. 5.1) ). Seperti ditunjukkan pada Gambar 5.2, elektron yang
dilepaskan dalam reaksi anodik dikonsumsi dalam reaksi katodik. Jika kita memasok elektron tambahan ke struktur
logam, lebih banyak elektron akan tersedia untuk reaksi katodik yang akan menyebabkan laju reaksi katodik
meningkat dan reaksi anodik menurun, yang pada akhirnya akan meminimalkan atau menghilangkan korosi. Ini
pada dasarnya adalah tujuan perlindungan katodik. Elektron tambahan dipasok oleh arus listrik langsung. Pada
penerapan arus searah, potensi katoda bergeser ke potensi daerah anodik. Jika arus searah yang cukup diterapkan,
perbedaan potensial antara anoda dan katoda dihilangkan dan korosi pada akhirnya akan berhenti terjadi.

This type of cell is formed when an external current is introduced into the system. It may consist of all the basic
components of galvanic cells and concentration cells plus an external source of electrical energy. Notice that anode
has a (+) polarity and cathode has (—) polarity in an electrolytic cell, where external current is applied. This is the
type of cell set up for electrically protecting the structures by cathodic protection. The polarity of an electrolytic cell
is opposite to that in a galvanic (corrosion) cell (Fig. 2.7).