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Corrosion Prevention

Presentation · July 2020

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.16015.41125

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Lecture :

Corrosion Prevention
By
Prof. Dr. Eng. Ali Sabea Hammood
Department Of Materials Engineering/
Faculty of Engineering -University of Kufa-Najaf-Iraq

2019-2020
1
Introduction:
The mechanism of corrosion involves metal dissolution due to an
electrochemical phenomenon. Thus, corrosion is associated with
current flow over finite distances from the corroding metal, and
the amount of corrosion that can be accounted for is
quantitatively determined by the amount of current passing
through the metal. The electrochemical phenomenon occurs
because of differences in potential between areas of the
corroding metal surface. Therefore, the driving force of
corrosion is the decrease in free energy associated with the
formation of corrosion product on the metal surface .

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Five different main principles can be used
to prevent corrosion:
1. Appropriate materials selection
2. Change of environment
3. Suitable design
4. Electrochemical, i.e. cathodic and anodic protection
5. Application of coatings
The choice between these possibilities is usually based upon economic
considerations, but in many cases aspects such as appearance, environment and
safety must also be taken care of. Two or more of the five principles are
commonly used at the same time. It is important to decide upon corrosion
prevention at the design stage. 3
1. Appropriate materials selection
As a general guideline for materials selection
primarily dictated by corrosion aspects, the
reason for the corrosion resistance of the
respective material candidates may be used. If
the resistance is based upon:
1. Passivity, the alloy is suitable for oxidizing
environments (only in the absence of species
that promote localized corrosion).
2. Immunity, the alloy is suitable for reducing
environments.
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2. Change of environment
The environment may be changed in the following ways in order to
reduce corrosion rates:
a) Decreasing (or increasing) the temperature
b) Decreasing (or increasing) the flow velocity
c) Decreasing (or increasing) the content of oxygen or aggressive
species
d) Adding inhibitors

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3. Proper Design
Design and materials selection are performed in connection with each other. In
these processes both the individual components, the interactions between them
and the relation to other structures and the surroundings have to be taken into
account.
The majority of the corrosion forms are affected more or less by the geometry:
galvanic and thermogalvanic corrosion, crevice corrosion, erosion and cavitation
corrosion, fretting corrosion, stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue.
Important design measures for prevention of these corrosion forms , some general
guidelines are useful:

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1. Design in a way that makes
drainage, inspection and cleaning easy
.Use joints that do not cause corrosion
problems, e.g. butt welds instead of
overlap joints. However, in cases
where the materials are protected by
a paint or zinc coating before joining,
sometimes it is beneficial to avoid
welding. Alternatively, the welds can
be post-treated (blast cleaned and
coated, e.g. with paint, tape or
thermal spray metal). 9
2. Avoid hot as well as cold spots. Heat exchangers and other equipment where
heat transport occurs should be so designed that the surface temperature
varies as little as possible. On superheated spots, increased (possibly
thermogalvanic) corrosion will occur. For systems containing vapour, cold spots
leading to local condensation and corrosion should be avoided.

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3. Appropriate design. Numerous
examples of good design of flow
systems and other equipment ,Pipe
dimensions and flow cross sections
are to be chosen with the aim of
keeping the flow velocity below
the critical level.

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4. Aim at simple geometry, and avoid
heterogeneity and sharp changes in the system.
Heterogeneity comprises different metals,
uneven temperature and stress distribution,
uneven dimensions etc. Abrupt dimension
changes are unfortunate for stress distribution,
temperature distribution, flow conditions, and
possibly for the ease of cleaning. Sharp edges
and irregularities on the surface impair the
basis for painting, electrolytic plating and hot
dipping.

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4. Electrochemical ( cathodic and anodic protection)
4.1 Cathodic Protection Techniques :
4.1.1 Sacrificial Anode Technique and Impressed Current Technique
If the coating technique is insufficient to cathodically protect a structure from corrosion, then a combination of coating
and an external current suffices for the protection. Fundamentally, CP dictates that the structure is treated as the cathode
(-) and an external electrode as the anode (+) by connecting them to a voltmeter (conductor) to complete an electrical
circuit as a galvanic cell or galvanic couple. Thus, the principle of electrochemistry assures that the CP technique
impresses an external current on the cathode. This galvanic couple is referred to as a sacrificial anode technique (SAT)
where the anode is active and the cathode is noble .This principle is schematically shown in Fig.8.3 under ideal conditions.

1
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Figure8.4 schematically shows the general
layouts for sacrificial anode technique
(SAT) and impressed-current technique
(ICT) for cathodic protection (CP) of a
structure. The former technique requires
several sacrificial anodes (SAs) for
supplying electrons to large cathodic
structure, while the latter usually requires
less anodes than the former one because
of the rectifier. Thus, a protective
potential current (E;I)

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Fig. 8.3
Figure 8.4b illustrates an impressed-current
cathodic protection (ICCP) technique for
providing the electrons to large coated and
bare structures (pipelines , gasoline tanks,
etc.) using a DC power supply(PS), commonly
known as a rectifier. The initial polarization

for ICCP is provided by an applied (E;I) initial

pair, and once CP is in progress, the

structure’s potential (E) against a suitable
reference electrode (RE) can be measured
using a voltmeter (V), which is drawn in
Fig.8.4 for both SAT and impressed current
(IC). 16
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Sketches of Industrial Cases:
The impressed-current technique is a simple
and, yet, significant form of cathodic
protection of under ground steel pipe lines as
shown in Fig.8.5a .For comparison, Fig.8.5b
illustrates the same galvanic couple without
the rectifier. The former technique is most
common for under ground large structures.
In both cases, the current flows from the
rectifier to the inert anode or sacrificial anode
(graphite) through the soil (electrolyte) to the
cathode. The purpose of the rectifier is to
convert alternating current (AC) to uniform Fig. 8.5 Schematic cathodic protection technique
(a) Impressed current. (b) Sacrificial anode
direct current (DC). 18
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Other cathodic protection systems are schematically
shown in Fig.8.6 .For instance,Fig.8.6a illustrates the
three-electrode technique to conduct measurements
of(a) the potential difference between the working
electrode (WE)and the reference electrode (RE) using
a voltmeter (V) and (b) the current flowing to the
anodic auxiliary electrode (AE) using an ammeter (A).
Figure8.6b illustrates another CP system encountered
at industrial sites using embedded anodes, where the
length of the anode-backfill column, known as active
anode bed, must not be chosen arbitrarily because it
is related to the current density entering the anode
bed .

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Let us use Fontana’s cases for protecting a pipeline against corrosion near a
buried steel tank using the stray-current technique. Firstly, Fig. 8.8a shows the
detrimental effect of stray current (leakage current), which has the following
path (dashed lines) in the cathodic circuit, As a result, the pipeline corrodes
near the steel tank .

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Fig. 8.8 Stray-current technique for cathodic protection. (a) Stray-current corrosion 1
Secondly, the solution to this problem relies on placing and connecting another
anode to the circuit as shown in Fig 8.8 b . Thus, current flows from both
anodes toward the tank and pipeline, and consequently, both structures are
cathodically protected by this uniform stray current flow.

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Fig 8.8 (b) stray-current protection
Example 8.1. Suppose that a buried steel structure is to be cathodically
protected using a rectifier capable of delivering 1V and 5A through the wiring
system . Assume that the soil resistance is 80% of the external resistance.
Calculate (a) the soil resistance when the anode bed is 4 m long and 0.10 m in
diameter and (b) the current density ib.

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4.3 Anodic Protection :

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Fig. 8.25 Schematic anodic protection system
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5- Applications Coating
Coating Technique This is a cost-effective technique, providing the most the
protection, but it is susceptible to have surface defects called holidays ,which
promote current drain age points causing localized corrosion sites. Therefore, a
combination of coating and cathodic protection (through an impressed-current)
techniques is a adequate to protect a metallic structure, commonly made out of
steel. For instance , coal tar pitch (black resin) is used for coating underground
steel structures. Anyway, coating defects develop due to chemical reactions and
mechanical damage, leading to an increase in defect density and current
requirements for protection .An increase in the protective current due to low
resistance defects can be determined using Ohm’s law :

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References:
1. Nestor Perez, Electrochemistry and Corrosion Science, 2nd Edition, Springer, 2016.
2. Corrosion and Protection, Einar Bardal, Springer, 2004 .
3. Muye Yanga, Shigenobu Kainumaa , Shuji Ishiharab , Akira Kanekoc,Takao Yamauchid, Atmospheric
corrosion protection method for corroded steel membersusing sacrificial anode of Al-based alloy,
Construction and Building Materials Volume 234, February 2020, 117405.

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