Corrosion Engineering

EBT402 - Lecture 2
Introduction to corrosion

Text Books:
1. Fontana M.G. (1986), Corrosion Engineering, 3rd edition, New York,
McGraw Hill
2. Zaki Ahmad (2006), Principle of Corrosion Engineering and Corrosion
Control, 1st edition, UK, Butterworth-Heinermann
Reference Books:
Batchelor A.W. Lam,N.L.,Chandrasekaran,M.(2000), Materials Degradation
and Its Control by Surface Engineering, Imperial College Press.
Wranglen, Gosta(1985), Introduction to Corrosion and Protection of Metals,
Chapman and Hall.
Donald R. Askeland, Pradeep P. Phule, 4th Edition, The science and
Enginnering of Materials.
J.J. Moore, 2nd Edition, Chemical Metallurgy.

What is Corrosion
A complex chemical or electrochemical process of
material being destroyed through reaction with its
environment
Example: When the metal is iron, the process is called
rusting. Rust is the corrosion product
Corrosion: irreversible interfacial reaction of a material
(metal, ceramic, polymer) with its environment
Metals: high electric conductivity electrochemical
corrosion
Electrically non-conducting materials: physico-chemical
principles.

Terminology
Corrode:
cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid.
to wear away or diminish by gradually, as by rusting or by the
action of chemicals

Corroded: eaten away as by chemicals or oxidation.

Corrosive:
a substance, capable of destroying or eating away by chemical
action or a substance having the tendency to cause corrosion
(such a strong acids or alkali).
a substance that will destroy or irreversibly damage another
substance with which it comes into contact.

Environment
Practically all environments are corrosive to some degree

Example:
air and moisture
fresh, distilled and mine waters
rural, urban, and industrial atmospheres
steam and other gases: chlorine, ammonia
mineral acids: hydrochloric, sulfuric, and nitric
organic acids: naphthenic, acetic and formic
Alkalis: KOH, NaOH
Soil, solvents, vegetable and petroleum oil, a
variety of food products
p/s: Inorganic materials are more corrosive than
organic.
.

The importance of corrosion

Economics

Safety

Conservation

Economics
Aim to reduce the material losses resulted from
corrosion
Waste of metal, water, human efforts, rebuilding cost
Need further investment
Losses: direct vs. indirect

Corrosion damage
How the world economy would be drastically
changed if there were no corrosion?
Appearance:
Automobiles, ship, pipeline are painted/coated because rusted surfaces are not
pleasing to the eye
Badly rusted equipment: poor impression

Maintenance and operating cost:

Saving can be obtained by using corrosion resistant
materials
Cheaper than to repair or replace failed equipment
in a plant: lower maintenance cost

Plant operational shutdowns:

Frequently plats are shutdown or
portions of a process stopped
because of unexpected corrosion
failures
Req: freq. monitoring
Less monitoring for equipment
made of high corr. Resistant
materials
Contamination of product:
Corrosion introduce metal ion into the solution, may cause catalytic decomposition
of a product
Loss of valuable products:
slight losses of uranium compounds or solution are hazardous and can be very
costly

Direct loss
Direct loss: cost of replacing corroded structure,
machine, repainting, use corrosion resistance metal,
protection cost (cathodic protection maintenance,
galvanizing, inhibitor)
Fact: USD 276 billion or 3.1 % of US GDP loss due to corrosion
25-30 % can be avoided if current tech were effectively applied
3-4 % of GDP for Japan, UK, Australia

Indirect loss
Direct loss: easier to estimate/assess
Indirect loss: difficult to assess
E.g.: to replace corroded part may be cheap, but it
requires plant shutdown
Direct loss: replace parts
Indirect loss: plant shutdown (higher loss amount
involve)
Imagine boiler in a power plant: boiler is down, yet the
customers need electrical energy: need to purchase
energy: $$$

Indirect loss: discuss

1. corrosion on pipe that is used to supply water

2. corrosion on exhaust that is used to convey heat

Case study

Mining, 1.2%

Extrapolated
Corrosion Costs: $276
billion, 3.1%

Agriculture, 1.5%
Federal Government,
4.1%
Services, 20.9%

Construction, 4.3%
Wholesale Trade,
7.0%
Transportation and
Utilities, 8.3%

Finance, Insurance
and Real Estate,
19.2%

State and Local

Government, 8.5%

Retail Trade, 9.1%

Manufacturing,
16.3%

Gas & Liquid

Transmission Pipelines
$7 Billion Per Year

Gas & Liquid Transmission Pipelines

Over 480,000 Miles of Gas and Liquid Transmission Pipelines

Gas Transmission
Natural Gas Lines 328,000 Miles

Liquid Transmission Lines

Crude Oil Lines 74,000 Miles
Liquid Product Lines 82,000 Miles

60% of These Lines Are Over 40 Years

Gas & Liquid Transmission Pipelines

Oil & Gas
Pipelines

Production

Natural
Gas

Hazardous
Liquids

2,000K miles

156K miles

Facilities

Transmission

Transmission

300K miles

135K miles

Distribution
1,700K miles

Crude Oil

Liquid Products

53K miles

82K miles

Gathering
28K miles

Gathering
21K miles

Gas & Liquid Transmission Pipelines

Typical Corrosion Related Costs
Annual ICCP System Investment - $40 Million
Annual Sacrificial CP Investment - $9 Million
Annual O&M Costs - $2.4 Billion - $4.8 Billion

Certification
30% of Companies has personnel dedicated to Corrosion Control
Regulations require Certification of Corrosion Control Staff
Annual Cost $32.4 Million

Sector Summary: Transmission

Pipelines
Low
Estimate

High
Estimate

($ x M)

($ x M)

($ x M)

Cost of Capital

2,500

2.840

2,670

38

Operations & Maintenance (O&M)

2,420

4,840

3,630

52

471

875

673

10

5,391

8,555

6,973

100

Cost of Failures (Non-Related O&M)

TOTAL COST DUE TO CORROSION

Average

Drinking Water &

Sewer Systems
$36 Billion Per Year

Drinking Water & Sewer Systems

Two Separate Systems

Drinking Water
Sewage Water
Costs in Operation, Maintenance, Finance, Capital
Investments
Maintenance crews find and repair leaks, but the number of
leaks increases with system age.

Drinking Water & Sewer Systems

System Size
550 liters of water consumption per person per day
56.7 Billion m3 / year in the U.S.
1.4 Million km of municipal water pumping
A major barrier to progress in corrosion management
is the absence

of complete and up-to-date information on all water

systems.

Operation & Management Costs

There are only 2 reasons why utilities replace or

change water systems:

Pipes are considered broken,

Leaking water
Corrosion products in the water
Capacity too small for the area
Assume 50% of all operation and maintenance costs
are corrosion-related

Three Reports on Water System Costs

1997 EPA: B$6.9 per year

Drinking water system maintenance only

1998 AWWA: B$16.3 per year

Drinking water transmission maintenance only

2000 WIN: B$51 per year for Drinking Water
B$45 per year for Sewer Systems
Includes Operation, Maintenance, Finance, Capital

Cost of Lost Water

Nationwide, 15% of treated water is lost
Loss of revenue: B$3.0 per year
More than 90% of lost-water cost is corrosion-related,

because of leaking systems

Underground leaks go unnoticed: Therefore low cost
awareness

Sector Summary: Drinking Water &

Sewer Systems

Operation, Maintenance, Finance, Capital

Drinking water systems

B$19.25

Sewer systems

B$13.75

Cost of Lost water

B$3.0

TOTAL

B$36.0

Non-Technical Preventive Strategies (4)

Increase awareness of the large corrosion costs and
potential savings

Change the misconception that nothing can be done

about corrosion
Change policies, regulations, standards, and
management practices to increase corrosion savings
Improve education and training of staff

Technical Preventive Strategies (3)

Advance design practices for better corrosion management

Advance life prediction and performance assessment methods
Advance corrosion technology through research, development,
and implementation

Safety
Corrosion cause failure: leads to accident
May took place in workplace or home
E.g.: every 15 secs, 160 workers have a work-related
accident
every 15 secs, a worker dies from a work-related
accident or disease
What is the differences between accident, incident, nearmiss and incidence????

Risk management

Risk is a formula
Risk = likelihood x severity
Likelihood vs probability??
Can be positive or negative
Positive: gain benefit
Negative: gain losses
In safety, risk is only negative
The management of safety risk is focused on prevention
and mitigation of harm

RISK

Conservation

Loss of metal due to corrosion affect both safety and

economy
If the metal can be conserved, the safety and economy
can be protect

Factors affecting corrosion

Effective electrode
potential of a metal
in a solution

Inherent ability to
form an insoluble
protective film

Factors
Associated
Mainly
with the
Metal
Chemical and physical
homogeneity of the metal
surface

Overvoltage of
hydrogen on the
metal

Specific nature and

concentration of
other ions in solution

Temperature
Influence of
oxygen in
solution
adjacent to
the metal

Factors Which
Vary Mainly
with the
Environment

Rate of flow of the

solution in contact
with the metal

Hydrogen-ion
concentration (pH)
in the solution

Cyclic stress
(corrosion fatigue)

Ability of
environment to form
a protective deposit
on the metal

Corrosion
classification

By thermal

By process

By condition

By thermal
Low temperature corrosion
Very common

High temperature corrosion

coming in contact with hot gas containing certain contaminants

Fuel contains vanadium compounds or sulfates
which form compounds during combustion
strongly corrosive for stainless steel and other alloys normally
inert against the corrosion and high temperatures.
Other high-temperature corrosions include hightemperature oxidation, sulfidation and carbonization.

By process
Chemical corrosion: oxidation
Electrochemical corrosion: Metal atoms are removed
from the solid material as the result of an electric circuit
that is produced.

By condition:
Wet corrosion:
Req. liquid, involves aqueous or electrolytes
accounts for the greatest amount of corrosion by far
example: corrosion of steel by water.

Dry corrosion

absence of a liquid phase

Vapor and gases are usually the corrosion agents
Dry corrosion in most often associated with high temperatures
Example: is attack on steel by furnace gases

Yet, presence of small amounts of moisture could change

the rxn.
example: dry chlorine is non corrosive to ordinary steel
but moisture chlorine, or chlorine dissolved in water is extremely
corrosive and attacks most of common metals and alloys.
the reverse is true for titanium-dry chlorine gas is more corrosive
than wet chlorine.

Corrosion science vs. corrosion

engineering
Scientist study:
Corrosion mechanism to improve the understanding of
the causes of the corrosion
Ways to prevent/minimize damage caused by corrosion:
outline the structure of chem. Compound that behave
best as inhibitor, synthesizes corr. Resistant alloy

Engineers:
Applies scientific knowledge to control corrosion
Cathodic protection to prevent corrosion on pipelines,
develop better paints, prescribe proper dosage of
inhibitors, recommend correct coating

What is corrosion engineering?

An application of science and art to prevent or control
corrosion damage economically and safely.
In order to perform their function properly, corrosion engineer
must be well versed in:
the practices and principles of corrosion;
the chemical, metallurgical, physical, and mechanical properties of
materials;
corrosion testing; the nature of corrosive environment;
the availability and fabrication of materials and design.
Soft skills: human relations, integrity, the ability to think and analyze,
an awareness of the importance of the safety, common sense of
organization, a solid feeling for economics.
In solving corrosion problems, the corrosion engineer must select the
method that will maximize profits.

Types of Corrosion
1. Uniform Corrosion
2. Galvanic Corrosion
3. Crevice Corrosion
4. Pitting Corrosion
5. Intergranular Corrosion
6. Selective Leaching
7. Erosion Corrosion
8. Stress Corrosion
Hydrogen Damage
Fretting Corrosion
Corrosion fatigue

Uniform or General Corrosion

The metal loss is uniform from the surface.

The reaction starts at the surface and proceeds uniformly.
If surface corrosion is permitted to continue, the surface may become rough and
surface corrosion can lead to more serious types of corrosion.
The oxidation and reduction reactions occur randomly over the surface.
.
The breakdown of protective coating systems on structures often leads to this form of
corrosion. Dulling of a bright or polished surface, etching by acid cleaners, or
oxidation (discoloration) of steel are examples of surface corrosion.
Example: fogging of nickel
Generally, initial corr. Rate > subsequent rate

Prevention:

Use proper material selection

Coatings or paints
Inhibitor
Cathodic protections

In general corrosion, metal can be classified into 3 classes

according to the corr. Rate :
<0.15 mm/y metal in this category have good corr.
Resistance, suitable for crucial parts: valve seats, pump
shafts
0.15-1.5 mm/y Satisfactory, suitable for tanks, piping,
valve bodies, bolt head
>1.5 mm/y not satisfactory

Galvanic Corrosion

- Also called dissimilar metal corrosion.

- It refers to corrosion damage induced when two dissimilar materials are coupled in a
corrosive electrolyte.
- In galvanic corrosion, one of the metals in the couple becomes the anode and
corrodes faster, while the other becomes the cathode and corrodes slower than it
would alone.
- Concept can be applied in battery (dry cell of Zn-C)
- Corr. Rate depends on: environment, distance, size of the electrodes
- Current density is greater for small electrode and the greater current density at
anodic area the greater the corrosion rate.
For galvanic corrosion to occur, three conditions must be present:
Electrochemically dissimilar metals must be present (refer emf)
These metals must be in electrical contact, and
The metals must be exposed to an electrolyte
Prevention:
Materials selection
Insulating dissimilar metals
Barrier coating
Cathodic protection-sacrificial anode

Crevice Corrosion
Localized form of corrosion
Associated with a stagnant solution on the micro-environmental
level.
E.g.: under gaskets, washers, insulation materials, fastener heads,
surface deposits, disbonded coatings, threads, lap joints and
clamps.
Metal-metal; metal-non metal
Initiated by changes in local chemistry within the crevice:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Depletion of inhibitor in the crevice

Depletion of oxygen in the crevice
A shift to acid conditions in the crevice
Build-up of aggressive ion species (e.g. chloride, bromide, iodide) in the crevice

Pitting Corrosion

Another localized form of corrosion

Cavities or "holes" are produced in the material.
Pitting corrosion can produce pits with their mouth open (uncovered) or
covered with a semi-permeable membrane of corrosion products.
Pits can be either hemispherical or cup-shaped.
The basis metal is eaten away and perforated in places in the manner of
holes, the rest of the surface being affected only slightly or not at all.
Pitting is considered to be more dangerous than uniform corrosion damage
because it is more difficult to detect, predict and design against because
Corrosion products often cover the pits.
Causes: different aeration cell, env. Contain aggressive species, MnS
inclusions

 Corr. Rate is greater at some areas than at others

Deep pit: attack is confined to a small area, becoming an
anode
Shallow pit: area of attack is large
Pitting factor:

Intergranular Corrosion

intergranular corrosion

Transgranular or
intragranular corrosion

The microstructure of metals and alloys is made up of grains,

separated by grain boundaries. Intergranular corrosion is localized
attack along the grain boundaries, while the bulk of the grains
remain largely unaffected, loss in strength and ductility
for intragranular corrosion the grain boundary material is retained,
since the corrosion proceeds preferentially within the grain.
A classic example is the sensitization of stainless steels or weld
decay. Intergranular corrosion in stainless steel as a consequence
of Chromium Carbide formation when C concentration is too high
and an unfavourable heat treatment has occurred

Dealloying (selective leaching)

Selective removal of one element from an alloy by corrosion

processes.
A common example is the dezincification of brass, Zinc is dissolved
and porous copper structure is produced.
Dealuminisation of aluminium bronze, Graphitic corrosion of gray
cast iron

Further reading

Erosion Corrosion

Conjoin erosion and corrosion.

Usually caused by rapidly streaming liquid.
Erosion-corrosion is associated with a flow-induced
mechanical removal of the protective surface film
that results in a subsequent corrosion rate increase
via either electrochemical or chemical processes.
It is an acceleration in the rate of corrosion attack in
metal due to the relative motion of a corrosive fluid
and a metal surface. The fluid can be aqueous or
gaseous, single or multiphase.
Presence of pitting on the internal surfaces of a tube
can result in increasing erosion rates: turbulence
Prevalent in soft alloys (i.e. copper, aluminum and
lead alloys). It occurred in the area such as bends in
pipe, entrance of heat exchanger pipe, pump parts.

Hydrogen Embrittlement

Process involves the ingress of hydrogen into a component

Seriously reduce the ductility and load-bearing capacity, cause cracking and
catastrophic brittle failures at stresses below the yield stress of susceptible materials.

Hydrogen embrittlement occurs in a number of forms

Examples of hydrogen embrittlement are cracking of weldments or hardened steels

when exposed to conditions which inject hydrogen into the component.

Hydrogen embrittlement does not affect all metallic materials equally. The most
vulnerable are high-strength steels, titanium alloys and aluminum alloys.

Fretting Corrosion

Corrosion damage at the contact surfaces

Under load and in the presence of repeated relative surface motion, as

induced for example by vibration.

Damage can occur at the interface of two highly loaded surface which are
not designed to move against each other.

The protective film on the metal surfaces is removed by the rubbing action

Exposes fresh, active metal to the corrosive action of the atmosphere.

This damage typically found in machinery, bolted assemblies and ball or

roller bearings.

Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)

Crack induced from the combined influence of tensile

stress and a corrosive environment.
The impact of SCC on a material usually falls between dry
cracking and the fatigue threshold of that material.
Tensile stress can be residual stress or applied stress via
direct load
Corrosive medium can be Ammonia, Chloride solution
(austenitic stainless steel), Nitrate solution (carbon steel)
O2 content, pH value, electrode potential
Protection
Stress-relief annealing
Shot-peening
Material selection.

Corrosion Fatigue

Result of the combined action of an alternating or cycling

stresses and a corrosive environment.
The fatigue process is thought to cause rupture of the
protective passive film, upon which corrosion is
accelerated.
Corrosion fatigue and fretting are both in this class.
If the metal is simultaneously exposed to a corrosive
environment, the failure can take place at even lower
loads and after shorter time.
The fatigue fracture is brittle and the cracks are most
often transgranular
The corrosive environment can cause a faster crack
growth and/or crack growth at a lower tension level than
in dry air.
Even relatively mild corrosive atmospheres can reduce
the fatigue strength of aluminum structures considerably,
down to 75 to 25% of the fatigue strength in dry air.
Example:
Cracking in hot water systems, temperature variation
Expansion joint, e.g. horseshoes, loops, glands,
bellows or bends.

Thank you