Divers conducting inspections of the Mickler-O’Connell Bridge detected heavy corrosion of the steel H-piles. Researchers suspect microbiologically influenced corrosion caused localized degradation.
This article provides basic concepts for young corrosion engineers to improve skills on coating specification and inspection that will impact structural steel painting work.
Average annual salaries in 2016 are reported for corrosion professionals in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe. A slight gain was seen for the United States and United Kingdom, while a larger increase was recorded in Canada.
Corrosion professionals in North America and Europe have experienced another year of continued growth in career opportunities and salary levels, according to the 2015 Corrosion Career Survey conducted by Materials Performance magazine.
To successfully communicate the wide variety of corrosion-related issues affecting corrosion professionals today, MP is actively encouraging corrosion control professionals worldwide to submit technical articles to share their corrosion-related experiences with over 36,000 NACE International members around the globe.
Inorganic zinc (IOZ) coatings are used pervasively
in industry to provide reliable protection from
corrosion on a variety of substrates. Problems have
emerged with coatings applied over zinc primers,
however, such as delamination and blistering.
This article discusses proper curing methods for
IOZs to ensure dependable performance of the
entire coating system.
Many years ago, early in
my career, I was reminded
that it’s the
little things that make
a standard paint job a
good paint job. Coatings
are too often
thought of as something that must be
done, but it’s not necessary to spend
much time on surface preparation or application. After all, “paint is paint and
anybody can apply paint.”
When predicting a corrosion failure, ideally the
time frame should be of sufficient duration to
enable operators to take the appropriate action and
eliminate the hazard. Occasionally it happens that
a potential failure is predicted just before it actually
occurs. This article describes such a situation.
Graphitization is a corrosion phenomenon
associated with grey
cast iron. This material consists
essentially of flakes of graphite in
an iron matrix. The iron constituent corrodes
out because of the same multitude of
corrosion reactions that affect ferrous metals,
leaving behind the graphite and some
corrosion products.
Because of increasing costs, owners are demanding
longer coating service life. Ten to 15 years is no
longer satisfactory. Simply adding dry film thickness
will not work since many coatings crack at excessive
thicknesses. Recent coating technology advances
permit the use of solvent-free epoxy and
polyurethane systems having >15-year lives. Newer
combinations of epoxy and polysiloxane resins will
make a 25-year life achievable.
The prediction of coating life depends on many
factors, including the coating system used,
preparation and application methods, and the
severity of the environment. This article describes
the knowledge needed to estimate coating
life and the conditions that can compromise
coating systems.
There are times when it is necessary to use impressed
current cathodic protection (ICCP) in urban areas,
in spite of concerns about extensive interference. This
article describes three ICCP systems that can be used
safely in urban environments. They are distributed
anode (parallel) groundbeds, deep anode
groundbeds, and low-output surface groundbeds.
Cathodic protection expert John Fitzgerald uses an
experience early in his career to illustrate the
consequences of not heeding the advice of corrosion
professionals when designing and implementing
corrosion control systems—many times because of
reluctance to bear the expense. Cutting corners to
save money up front can lead to unexpected failures
and expensive repair and replacement in the future.
A thorough pre-job meeting is an essential part of
any project. This article covers the requirements of a
pre-job meeting before starting a coating project. It
presents advice on who should attend, the roles of
the attendees, and references needed.
After experiencing severe telluric current activity on
a pipeline, the author researched the subject. The
causes and effects of telluric currents are explained
and precautions for obtaining data on forecast
telluric activity are given.