Corrosion Process

And Effects

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

1
 What is Corrosion
Degradation of metal through
environmental interaction

A significant amount of energy is put

in to metal when it is extracted from
its ores placing it in high energy state.

Oxides / Ores Al2O3 / Fe2O3 etc As per Thermodynamics law

material always seeks the lowest
which are stable form of metals
energy state.
In other words most of metals are
thermodynamically unstable and will
Metals extracted from Ores
tend to seek a lower energy state.
/Oxides like Aluminium , Fe etc.

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

2
 Thermodynamic and kinetics
Thermodynamics is used to indicate
whether a specific corrosion process is
possible and kinetics can be used to
understand and predict actual rates of
corrosion.

Gibbs Free Energy example

Energy U = mgh
By raising the basket ball from height h1 to
h2 the the energy level of the ball also
increases.

U=U initial U final <0

For most common metals in natural

environment U < 0 and corrosion process
is thermodynamically favored.

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

3
 Movement of current in battery
cell
The corrosion process involves
the removal of electrons
(oxidation) of the metal and the
consumption of those electrons
by some other reduction
reaction such as oxygen or
water reduction.

Zn Zn ++ + 2e
O2 + 2H2O + 4 e 4OH

2H2O + 2e H2 + 2OH-

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD. 4

4
 Pre requisite for Corrosion

1. There must be an anode

2. There must be a cathode

3. There must be a metallic

path between
anode and cathode

4. The anode and cathode

must be immersed in
electrolyte.

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

5
 Potential Measurement
The electrochemical nature of the
corrosion process provides
opportunity to detect and mitigate
corrosion. We can monitor the
voltages and the currents
associated with the corrosion
process.

Natural potential of CS in soil is

0.4 to 0.6 V (w.r.t Cu/CuSO4)

Alternative Reference Cells

Hydrogen, Zinc, Ag/AgCl, Calomel
(Mercury)

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

6
 Galvanic Series
Material Potential
Volts
Carbon, Graphite + 0.3
Platinum -0.1
Mill Scale on Steel -0.2
High Silicon Cast Iron -0.2
Copper -0.2
Mild Steel in Concrete -0.2
Lead -0.5
Cast Iron -0.5
Rusted Mild steel -0.5
Clean Mild steel -0.8
Aluminum -0.8
Aluminum Alloy -1.05
Zinc -1.1
Magnesium -1.75

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

7
 Corrosion Cells

Galvanic Corrosion due to dissimilar metals

Mill Scale Corrosion (Surface Roughness)
New and Old Pipelines
Dissimilar Soils
Interference /Stray Currents
Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC)

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

8
 Galvanic Corrosion due to dissimilar
metals
Due to different place of
metals in galvanic series and
satisfying the condition for
corrosion this corrosion occurs.

It plays major role in selection

of metal for pipeline
application (small parts like
welding, valve etc should be
either noble or cathodic w.r.t
pipeline)

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

9
 Mill Scale Corrosion (Surface
Roughness)
Uneven deposits on the surface
of the pipe/structure can result
in deep pitting and rapid
corrosion.

The corrosion can occur from

Differential Oxygen Cells,
Differential Ion Concentration
Cells, and Microbiological
Induced Corrosion.

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

10
 New and Old Pipelines
New and Old pipelines will
have different metal
characteristics.
Corrosion process and oxide
layer is already generated
on the old pipeline
Both pipelines will be laid in
different environment.
New pipe will become
anodic and old will be
cathodic.

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

11
 Dissimilar Soils
Different soils will have
different galvanic
characteristics
Environment will be different.
Different resistivity at
different location

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

12
 Interference /Stray Currents

Electrified railway (traction)

HT power line
Foreign pipeline and
structures
Earthing systems
Telluric current

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

13
Microbiologically Influenced
Corrosion
Bacteria can produce acids and
they reproduce very quickly
Most aggressive MIC takes
place in presence of metal-
oxidizing bacteria, sulfate
reducing bacteria (SRB), acid-
producing bacteria (APB), and
metal reducing bacteria (MRB)
MIC can result in pitting,
crevice corrosion, galvanic and
erosion corrosion.

RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.

14
 Cost of Corrosion
1. The costs of design, manufacturing,
and construction:
material selection
additional material -Corrosion
allowance
material used to mitigate or
prevent corrosion (Coating, CP
etc.)
application

2. The cost of management:

corrosion-related inspection,
1 mA current discharge corrosion-related maintenance,
can result in 7 holes of repairs due to corrosion,
dia. replacement of corroded parts,
In a 2 steel pipe of inventory of backup components,
standard thickness in 1 rehabilitation, and
year of time loss of productive time.
RELIANCE GAS TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE LTD.
15