Corrosion Is Normal and Expected
Corrosion is a normal part of the lifecycle of metals. Rust forms and deteriorates metals over time. It’s a slow-moving process that eats away at metal, causing breaks, cracks, and holes. This can be seen in day to day life on older cars. Automobiles tend to rust after time, especially if they are kept outside or in a non-temperature-controlled environment. The rust appears as a reddish-orange color and often looks to be “taking over” the metal. What is actually happening is regular, expected corrosion. This also happens on larger applications such as pipelines, bridges, and more. Larger applications need to take bigger steps to prevent corrosion than car owners do, as rust on a car isn’t typically dangerous.
It’s Not Only Caused by Water
Corrosion can stem from many different causes. It’s a common misconception that metal will only rust if it’s exposed to water. However, corrosion can be brought on by oxygen, increased activity, and friction. There are multiple types of corrosion, and each type has different causes. There is stress-corrosion cracking, which is corrosion brought on by excessive friction that causes a surface to crack or a sacrificial coating to be destroyed. There is also the common galvanic corrosion, which can be caused by exposure to moisture from water or in the air, or by low resistivity soil.
It Is Preventable
Although corrosion is an expected and normal part of a metal’s lifecycle, many industries need to prevent it whenever possible. Corrosion in applications such as natural gas pipelines or infrastructure can have dire consequences for the general public’s health and safety. There are three main corrosion prevention methods.
Sacrificial Coatings
A sacrificial coating is a layer of paint-like substance that is applied to the metal surface. It is designed to absorb the effects of corrosion, so the metal remains safe.
Corrosion-Resistant Metal Usage
Using corrosion-resistant metal alloys rather than pure metals is another form of corrosion prevention. Some alloys are designed to resist corrosion much better than pure metals.
Cathodic Protection
This is the most effective method of corrosion prevention. Cathodic protection shifts the anode and cathode ratio to protect the metal from corrosion.
All of these facts show just how important it is to invest in corrosion testing for industrial applications that are reliant on safe and stable metals.
