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Anti Corrosion Journal
Anti Corrosion Journal
As shipowners and shiprepairers will certainly be aware, of evolving excessive quantities of potentially explosive
costs of steel repairs resulting from corrosion, particularly hydrogen gas in operation.
in older and more vulnerable vessels such as tankers and Research then shifted to the development of new
bulk carriers are a significant proportion of the total alloys of zinc and aluminium which have vastly
maintenance expenditure. The economic problems of increased the electrical capacity of these materials as
the industry in recent years have inevitably led to well as achieving improved reliability and more negative
economies in maintenance budgets and, now the market electrical potentials which greatly improve their per-
has improved, the corrosion problems which have formance.
accumulated will have to be dealt with. In general, the In parallel with the introduction of aluminium alloy
two major techniques for corrosion protection, coatings sacrificial anodes in the late 1950's, the idea was
and cathodic protection are complementary to one conceived that low voltage D.C. current could be applied
another and neither, on its own, can provide the to inert metals so saving the cost of replacing sacrificial
complete answer. anodes at regular intervals and indeed, so-called
impressed current systems are now in common use not
Cathodic protection — A brief history only for the external hulls of ships, for the internal
Cathodic protection was first practically applied in 1825 surfaces of cooling water systems both at sea and
when soft iron anodes were installed to provide ashore, but also for many other applications which will
protection against corrosion of the copper cladding on be discussed later.
the submerged hulls of sailing vessels.
Later, in the early 1900's, when steel began to be used Basic principles of cathodic protection
as a shipbuilding material in preference to naturally The principle of the simple cell which consists of zinc
corrosion resistant iron on the grounds of economy and and copper electrods immersed in a sulphuric acid
better mechanical properties, corrosion of ship's hulls electrolyte is well known. When these electrodes are
became identified as a serious problem. The area worst interconnected by a conductor, electrical current flows
affected was at the after end of a vessel — an area of high from one electrode to the other and the zinc corrodes
water turbulence and adjacent to the bronze propeller while the copper does not.
which creates a galvanic couple causing pitting of the When different metals are immersed in a seawater
adjacent steel. This problem was alleviated by the electrolyte, they develop individual electrical potentials
installation of zinc anodes around the sternframe and on which can be measured by a device called a reference
the rudder — a practice which continues even today. cell. The potential of a metal will govern it's position in a
Initially, results were varied because it was not list called the Galvanic Series. A brief list of the metals
appreciated that purity of the zinc in the finished anode which interests us for present purposes is listed below:
is vital to it's performance. Contamination of the zinc by
iron or copper will cause the anode to passivate and Base end (Anodic) Magnesium
become useless. It is vitally important that anodes are Zinc
acquired from a reputable supplier whose manufacturing Aluminium
techniques avoid any possibility of contamination and Mild Steel
whose production methods include routine metallurgical Copper
analysis. Noble End (Cathodic) Cupro-Nickel
Just prior to the second world war, the Canadian Navy When any two of the above metals are electrically
conducted experiments with the use of magnesium as connected to each other in seawater, the metal higher in
an anode metal on the underwater external hull plating the list will corrode and the metal lower in the list will be
of their destroyers. For the first time, proper design protected.
criteria were established so that results of cathodic The further the metals are apart in the list, the stronger
protection were predictable and repeatable. will be the electric current produced and the greater the
After the war the Shell Company, finding the costs of corrosion activity at the anode.
steel repairs prohibitive in the cargo/ballast tanks of Ship steel, unlike iron which has excellent corrosion
their tankers, researched the application of magnesium resistance properties, is not an homogenerous material,
anodes in these tanks and the excellent results they being an iron based alloy containing a number of
obtained led to the establishment of the cathodic constituents as well as impurities. Immersed in seawater,
protection industry as we know it today. the steel assumes minute potential differences over its
Subsequent to the Shell research and the adoption of surface with metal loss occurring at the more negative
magnesium as an anode material, use of this metal in locations. Thus, tiny corrosion cells are created which
cargo/ballast tanks has had to be abandoned due to its may be aggravated by other factors such as the presence
propensity to cause sparks on impact and to it's property of mill scale, rust and differences in the level of oxygen in