CORROSION PICTURES ALBUM

ATTACHMENT TO

METALS CORROSION BOOK

IRON PILLAR OF DELHI The pillaralmost
seven meters or 22feet (6.7m) high and
weighing more than six tonswas allegedly
erected at the time of Chandragupta II
Vikramaditya (375413 BCE), though other
authorities give dates as early as 912 BCE. It
is the only remaining piece of a Hindu and
Jain temple complex which stood there before
being destroyed by uncultured people.
The pillar is 98% wrought iron of pure quality,
and is a testament to the high level of skill
achieved by ancient Indian ironsmiths. It has
attracted the attention of both archaeologists
and metallurgists, as it has withstood
corrosion for so many years, despite harsh

CORROSION TYPES

GENERALIZED
Corrosion

This 40 year old sample of 8 in. schedule 80 pipe, while clearly containing deposits of
iron oxide, shows very even wall loss and long remaining service life.
The pipe was cleaned using high pressure water jet and returned to service with
approximately schedule 40 thickness remaining.

GENERALIZED
Corrosion

GALVANIC Corrosion

An extremely common problem area due to the failure to install galvanic insulators
between carbon steel pipe and either brass valves or copper/ stainless steel pipe.
Combined with schedule 40 pipe and a moderate corrosion rate, galvanic corrosion
will often produce premature failures with 6-10 years

GALVANIC Corrosion

Galvanic Corrosion Couple between Carbon Steel Vessel Shell and Stainless Steel Nameplate

GALVANIC Corrosion

Galvanic Corrosion Couple between Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel for Instrumentation
connections

GALVANIC Corrosion

A combination of water penetration through the roof level pipe insulation and galvanic
activity completely dissolved this pipe hanger.
Severe wall thickness loss is obvious in the immediate area of the pipe hanger and
resulted in the need to replace this pipe.

GALVANIC Corrosion

Another example of the higher corrosion activity usually existing at direct brass to black
iron connections.
At low corrosion rates, galvanic corrosion may be negligible, but usually increases greatly
once corrosion rates exceed 5 MPY.

UNDER DEPOSIT Corrosion

A condition often indicated ultrasonically by some areas showing at near original

specification, and adjacent areas of high wall loss.
It is more prevalent at the bottom of horizontal lines, on lower floors, and where flow rates
are slowest.

UNDER DEPOSIT Corrosion

Created by either a corrosion cell or an MIC condition, high wall loss is typically found
under interior rust deposits - more commonly called tubercles.
Such localized and deep corrosion can easily reach rates of 25 MPY or more, and
destroy even larger diameter pipe in 5 years or less.

UNDER DEPOSIT Corrosion

The degree of wall loss occurring under tubercular deposits is generally proportional to the
volume or size of the internal deposit. A 0.100 in. wall loss can translate into a 2 in. internal
iron oxide deposit.
This photo illustrates the greater threat of high wall loss over the restriction in water flow.

INSULATION / Galvanic Corrosion

- Moisture penetrating through the insulation at this chill pipe provided an initiation to an
outer corrosion problem at the steel take-off line.
Exterior moisture also assisted in the heavier attack at the threads due to galvanic
activity between brass valve and steel pipe.

UNDER INSULATION Failure

The general failure of this fiberglass chill water pipe insulation allowed moisture to
penetrate and produce severe pipe deterioration in localized areas.
Often seen as exempt from corrosion problems, this copper pipe was severely pitted at
its exterior and in need of replacement.

TOTAL THREAD failure

A potentially worst case scenario, this 1 in. take-off line from a 24 in. main condenser
water riser corroded completely through and separated.
Remarkably, corrosion product within the failed nipple held back 12 floors of water.

PACK RUST

Pack rust is a form a localized corrosion typical of steel components that develop a crevice into
an open atmospheric environment. This expression is often used in relation to bridge inspection
to describe built-up members of steel bridges which are showing signs of rust packing between
steel plates (both riveted as shown in the pictures, but also welded, with discontinuous welds,
showing non-adequate welding procedure). In fact, the practice of the latest 25 years is showing
such obvious phenomenon of welded packs more effective corrosive than for the riveted plates.

PITTING CORROSION GENERAL

LOCALSED PITTING

Partially water filled systems produce widely varying wall loss typically along the
bottom.
For this dry fire sprinkler system, testing showed virtually new pipe after 25 years at the
top, shown at the left. The wet pipe bottom however, shown at the right, was totally
deteriorated to the point of failure.

PITTING CORROSION

Pitting Corrosion showing wormhole attack pattern, where pits are interconnected

HAZ CORROSION

Heat-affected zone (HAZ) corrosion is a type of galvanic corrosion which occurs along
a weld seam

FATIGUE CORROSION & CRACKS

Corrosion due to fatigue occurs in areas of cyclic stresses. Here we see fatigue corrosion
in a drill pipe

HYDROGEN SULPHIDE
CORROSION

Signs of hydrogen sulfide corrosion include shallow round pits with etched bottoms

HYDROGEN SULPHIDE
CORROSION & CRACKS

Sulfide stress cracking occurs when H 2S corrosion is accelerated by stresses

HYDROGEN Embrittlement

Hydrogen embrittlement fractures are caused by hydrogen entering the metal and concentrating
internally in high-stress areas, making the metal very brittle. Hydrogen induced cracking can
also occur if the metal is subjected to cyclic stresses or tensile stress.

CHLORIDE STRESS CORROSION CRACKING

Chloride stress corrosion cracking (SCC) on the cooling water side of a 316L stainless steel
exchanger tube. The cooling water contained approximately 400 ppm chlorides had been
blocked in with the 350F shellside process still flowing. The black stringers are sulfide
inclusions. 100X

Stress Corrosion Cracking Fracture Of A Carbon

Steel Weld

Cleavage fracture surface of a carbon steel weld from an

emergency relief valve pipe. Fracture was believed to be due to
C0-CO2-h30 stress corrosion cracking. (~250X)

Graphitization Of A Carbon Steel Furnace Tube

Graphitization of a carbon steel furnace tube due to long term overheating and coking in
rich oil service

MICrobial CORROSION

This photo of the inside bottom of a cooling tower pan shows a severe and concentrated pitting
condition. The brown rust ring around each pinhole failure was a natural event of the corrosion
mechanism.
At the time that this photograph was taken, MIC was the suspected cause of the failure, though
not confirmed.

INTERGRANULLAR CORROSION

CORROSION CRACKS

ACID CORROSION

MARITIME RUST

COMPLEX CORROSION
PHAENOMENA IN
PICTURES

The above particular picture deserves a large

comment, due to the fact that is showing
internal pitting corrosion within a filter body
for sea water, having carbon steel
components (filter shell) and austenitic
stainless steel (internals). Connection to the
Filter nozzle WAS containing an isolation joint
(red circle marked), but due to presence of the
strong electrolyte (seawater) was ineffectivestrong corrosion associated with sand erosion
from the sea water occurred, destroying the
connection.
For this case there is only one solution: to
build both- the filters body and internals from
the same material (Super-Duplex) to avoid

WHAT MEANS NOT TO

TAKE ACCOUNT OF
LEARNED LESSONS

BHOPAL ACCIDENT

Bhopal is probably the site of the greatest industrial disaster in history. Between 1977 and 1984, Union
Carbide India Limited (UCIL), located within a crowded working class neighborhood in Bhopal, was
licensed by the Madhya Pradesh Government to manufacture phosgene, monomethylamine (MMA),
methylisocyanate (MIC) and the pesticide carbaryl, also known as Sevin

GUADALAJARA SEWER EXPLOSION- 1992

An example of corrosion damages with shared responsibilities was the sewer explosion that killed 215
people in Guadalajara, Mexico, in April 1992. Besides the fatalities, the series of blasts damaged
1,600 buildings and injured 1,500 people.
The first cause of the disaster was a galvanized steel pipeline that was occluding in a humid
environment with a steel gasoline pipeline. Both of them corroded, and gasoline leaked through the
holes, right into the main sewer.

Piping Rupture Caused

by Flow Accelerated Corrosion (FAC)-2004

A piping rupture likely caused by flow accelerated corrosion and cavitation-erosion occurred at
Mihama Nuclear power Plant (Japan)-3 at 3:28pm on August 9, 2004, killing five and injuring
seven. The rupture was in the condensate system, upstream of the feedwater pumps

VARIOUS METALS
BEHAVIOUR TO
GENERAL CORROSION

COMPLEX MACHINERY
MATERIALS
SELECTION
SAMPLE- PUMP