CORROSION ATLAS OF INDIA

Introduction:

CSIR –CECRI, Karaikudi has sketched a ‘Corrosion Map of India’ based

on the data collected over a period of 18 years from 1993-2011 throughout the

length and breadth of the country. The corrosion map is the corrosivity mapping

of the atmospheric environments and corrosion rate of specific engineering metal

exposed to the same environment. The chemical nature of the atmospheric

environments change with the levels of the pollution and climate. Based on the

already collected data there is an indication that the corrosivity of metal is spot

specific rather than region specific.

Background:

It is almost 43 years since the first corrosion map of India was issued, and

over the intervening years a lot of environmental changes have occurred due to

the industrialization, population growth, the enormous pollution caused by the

vehicles and climate change. The initial maps were based on the corrosion /

pollution data collected over a period of five years from 1963-1968 at 26

exposures stations located in the different parts of the country [1].

CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi, in 1993, initiated an exercise to prepare a new

corrosion map of India by collecting data on the atmospheric pollution and

corrosion rate of some of the widely used engineering materials including mild

steel, galvanized steel, zinc and alumiunium in various environmental conditions

[2]. A total of 60 exposure centers were set up throughout India. These stations

covered a wide range of the environmental conditions ranging from industrial,

marine and rural to city areas. Various atmospheric data such as SO 2, relative

humidity (RH), rainfall, salinity were collected. Figure 1 shows the exposure of

samples at an angle of 45o from a custom made stand at Tutticorin, Tamil Nadu.

Based on the annual corrosion rates (mm/y) for a particular material the

environments were classified into four ranges i.e mild, moderate, severe and

extremely severe, see Figure 2. The interesting feature of these maps is that the

corrosion is area specific and not region specific.

Figure 1: A sample exposure location (Tuticorin, TN)

Figure 2: A corrosion map of India for Mild Steel [2]
Necessity for the Corrosion Map:

Now CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi would like to initiate a new activity-

"CORROSION MAP OF INDIA" based on the crowd sourcing model pioneered

by DG- CSIR, Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari for programme on Open Source Drug

Discovery for India [3]

The reason for new map is to correlate the changes in atmospheric

environment with the corrosion performance of the exposed metal. This new

map will be a proactive tool for predicting the durability of the materials. A

detailed knowledge of the properties of the materials in the atmospheric

environment will help to make proper selection of construction material and

efficiently for industries such as oil and gas, marine industry. .

Mission

Since India is a vast country with different types of environment, it is no

longer possible to create an atlas by one institute, it is necessary for the people

from different institute to participate in this ambitious plan of corrosion atlas of

India. CSIR –CECRI, Karaikudi will lead the project with the input from the

engineering colleges and universities of all over the India.

We propose to set up 500 exposure stations. We will monitor a number of

environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, SO 2 gas

and salinity. Four different metal panels such as mild steel, zinc, galvanized

steel, aluminum and new engineering materials will be exposed.

 We would like to request faculties of the Chemistry, Material Science,

Metallurgical Engineering and Chemical Engineering to participate and contribute

to this nation wide research to make it successful. BTech or MTech students can

carry out their project work on this topic in collaboration with CSIR- CECRI,

Karaikudi We request all the students to register within a month for this

programme. A training session on this project will be given by CSIR-CECRI,

Karaikudi. The comphrensive technical manual detailing the procedures will also

be provided during training.

We have setup a google group

corrosionmapofindia@googlegroups.com for cyber networking with the

students, faculties and labs for interaction. Those who are interested to join may

communicate with us by google group or can contact us through the following

address.

Dr Rakesh Barik
Email: rakesh@cecri.res.in
Mobile-9487749809

Dr G. Sreedhar
Email: gsreedhar@cecri.res.in
M-9488116945

References

[1] K N P Rao and A K. Lahiri, 1971, Corrosion map of India.

[2] M Natesan , G Venkatachari, and N. Palaniswamy, Corrosion Prevention and
Control, Vol 52, Page 43-55, June, 2005
[3] Science 24 February 2012: 904-910.