Corrosion

The damaging effects of corrosion cost businesses and industry approximately US$ 2.5 trillion annually (impact.nace.org, 2016). Corrosion is an electrochemical process that occurs between a metal and the surrounding environment. This chemical reaction produces oxides and other undesirable compounds. The corrosion process consists of three components:

Anode: a metal subjected to the effects of corrosion through oxidation
Electrolyte: acts as the corrosive medium transporting the ions essential for the corrosion mechanism
Cathode: completes the electrical cell through reduction

Corrosion comes in many different forms and can be difficult to manage. For many applications the environment itself is the cause of the corrosion. In other applications the cause may be due to the process or transport of corrosive media. Often high heat can exacerbate the effects of corrosion. When combined with wear mechanisms complex tribochemical effects can occur, which can be even more problematic to combat.

Oerlikon Metco has been providing successful corrosion control solutions to industry for over 85 years. Using processes such as thermal spray and other processes in combination with a wide choice of materials, we give industry the results it needs to control and prevent corrosive mechanisms. Some of the benefits being:

• Longer service life for components and systems
• Improved efficiency over the life of components and systems
• Reduced cost of replacement
• Reduced impact on the environment in the form of scrap reduction

For engineers and designers a surface solution can lead to the freedom to choose a structural material that has great properties for the part or system, such as cost, machinability, strength, stress / strain resistance, but may not be corrosion resistant.