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Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention

, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp 239–246 | Cite as

Avoidable MIC-Related Failures

  • Albert M. Olszewski
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Companies are generally cost conscious, and the expense of having a full-time corrosion engineer is typically considered cost-prohibitive. However, when corrosion-related matters arise, the company should consult with a competent corrosion engineer who can forewarn the client of potential problems. Nonetheless, corrosion is often not considered a potential problem and this lack of attention can contribute to severe equipment deterioration and failure.

The following case histories reveal how problematic a lack of knowledge or understanding of corrosion can be. In each case the failure is attributable to microbiologically influenced corrosion. In total, there are six unique cases which illustrate the fact that a proper consideration of corrosion could have avoided or at least predicted the failures.

Introduction

Unfortunately, numerous industries have experienced microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). Microbiologically influenced corrosion can cripple critical equipment, such as a...

Keywords

Galvanize Steel Free Chlorine Crevice Corrosion General Corrosion Bacterium Growth 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Corrosion Testing Laboratories, Inc. for giving permission to publish this article.

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Copyright information

© ASM International 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Constellation EnergyBaltimoreUSA

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