Introduction to

CORROSION
Definitions of Corrosion
1) Destruction or deterioration of material
because of reaction with its environment.
2) Deterioration of metallic materials by means
other than straight mechanical
3) Eating away of metallic materials
4) Undesirable interaction of a material with its
environment
5) Extractive metallurgy in reverse
 Virtually no practical and engineering material
is stable. The rate of decay varies depending
upon the material and its environment.
 The human system cannot endure
 Temp above 50C or below 20C
 Pressures above or below our atmospheres
 Presence of harmful gases such as CO, H2S, and H2.
 Thus, analogous to human system,
engineering materials also require protection
like
 coatings, inhibitors, alloy addition, design
procedures, maintenance, inspection and re-
furnishing.
 It is a good thing to extend the life of
materials and keep them as corrosion free as
possible.
 As an example, extending the life of a 1000
megawatt nuclear power plant for one day
would mean a saving of half a million dollars.
Materials may undergo following types of
deterioration / destruction:
 Mechanical destruction

 Erosion

 Corrosion

 About eighty of the known elements are

metals. Practically all of these can corrode to
a different degree in a given situation.
 About half of these metals have been alloyed
to make over forty thousand alloys out of
which nearly thirty thousands are in practical
use.
 Corrosion is a surface phenomenon and the
interaction of metal with its environment may
fall into any one of the types depending upon
the involvement of the electrons, ions and
atoms :
 Electrochemical

 Chemical, and

 Physical
CORROSION CAN BE CLASSIFIED INTO:

 Wet corrosion or aqueous corrosion

 Dry corrosion or oxidation
Corrosion rate expressions
 Expressed quantitatively in a variety of ways.

 Weight loss per unit area per unit time

 e.g. mdd (milligram per square decimeter per
day) has been in use in Europe and America.
 From an engineer’s point of view, the
 rate of thinning of structural piece or
 rate of penetration can directly be used to predict
its life.
 E.g. ipy (inch per year) or mpy (mils per year)
Importance of corrosion data

< 5 mpy Good corrosion resistant

material

5 to 50 mpy Low corrosion resistant

material

> 50 mpy Unsuitable as

constructional material
 The corrosion rate expression (mpy) can be
calculated as

534W
mpy 
DAT
 W = weight loss in mg
 D = density of the metal in g/cc
 A = area in sq. inches
 T = exposure time in hours
ECONOMICS OF CORROSION AND ITS
CONTROL

 Loss of metal resources

 Cost of corrosion
Direct economic losses constitute the costs of:
 Replacement of
 corroded structures
 machinery and
 their components
 e.g. condenser tubes mufflers, pipelines, metal
roofing, repainting of structures against rusting,
cathodic protection and its upkeep for its
underground pipe systems.
 The extra cost of using
 corrosion resistant materials
 adding inhibitors to the closed systems,
 protective systems for metal structures etc.
Indirect economic losses constitute
the following factors:
1) Loss of product
 Considerable losses of oil, gas and
water may occur due to leakage
through a corroded pipe system until
repairs are made. Similarly leaks in
industry for different liquids result in
loss of significant value.
2) Loss of production
 For the repair or replacement of a corroded
piece of equipment with a relatively small
value, the whole plant may be shut down for a
day or more.
 A small plant may afford to opt for shut down
but in a large integrated factory or a chemical
complex, maintenance work on one plant may
cause loss of production from several others.
 Thus, the higher cost of corrosion resistant
material is justified in return for longer
productive cycles and maintenance-free
periods.
3) Loss of efficiency
 The deposition of corrosion products can
decrease the efficiency of operating a
plant.
 Examples include:

 The loss of pumping capacity due to partial

clogging of the interior of water pipes due to
accumulation of corrosion product,
 reduction in heat transfer through corrosion
deposits in heat exchangers,
 loss of critical dimensions in internal
combustion engines through corrosion.
4) Product contamination
 Fine chemicals, dye-stuffs, food processing
and drug industries cannot tolerate the pickup
of even small traces of metal ions in their
product due to corrosion.
 Thus to avoid this contamination, these plants
have to incorporate lined pipelines, reaction
vessels and storage tanks and in some cases
the whole plants are constructed of suitable
grade of stainless steel, thereby raising the
capital cost.
5) Over-design
 The principle of over-design is applied to
allow for corrosion damages and
consequently much thicker sections are
used than would normally be required for
mechanical strength.
 In case of water treatment and oil industry,
corrosion allowances ranging between 50-
100% are made in corrosion susceptible
areas of plant which means higher capital
costs for extra consumption of materials
and is against the concept of conservation
of resources.
6) Maintenance of stand-by machinery and
equipment
 To avoid unnecessary delays in scheduled
shut-downs in large factories, replacement
sections of plants and standby units have to
be maintained in readiness to take over when
corrosion failures occur.
 Similarly heavy inventories of replacement
items have to be maintained in case of
urgency during normal shut-downs. This also
leads to a considerable increase in capital
investment.
7) General losses
 There are instances where loss of health or
life through fire or explosion due to
unpredictable failure of chemical equipment,
resulting in release of toxic vapors, rupture of
vessels containing corrosive liquids through
sudden failure of critical parts have occurred.
 The cost of human life and miseries cannot be
computed in terms of money but the material
losses alone including invisibles and
overheads may amount to a staggering figure
in large chemical concerns over the productive
life of the plant.