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Principles of Marine Corrosion

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Springer Handbook of Ocean Engineering

Part of the book series: Springer Handbooks ((SHB))

Abstract

Seawater is an aggressive environment for materials particularly in warmer and polluted waters. In this environment, steel infrastructure, such as offshore platforms, pipelines, and tanks may corrode quickly, and for engineering and management purposes, the rate at which this occurs is of interest. Here, recently developed understanding of the corrosion processes over extended exposure periods is reviewed and recently developed science-based mathematical models for the prediction of corrosion and pitting of structural steels are described. The effect of various influencing factors is reviewed, including that of seawater quality and the effect of microorganisms on corrosion. Also, short discussions of the corrosion of stainless steels, aluminum, and copper-nickels, all materials that are used under marine exposure conditions, are given. This is followed by a description of recent observations of the corrosion of steel reinforcing bars in reinforced concrete, another widely used construction material in marine environments. It shows that reinforced concrete can be a highly successful construction material, even in long term and under marine conditions, but that severe loss of reinforcement may occur without obvious external signs detectable by visual inspection.

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Abbreviations

HSLA:

high strength low alloy

MIC:

microbially induced corrosion

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, NSW 2308, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia

    Robert E. Melchers

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  1. Robert E. Melchers
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Correspondence to Robert E. Melchers .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Inst. for Ocean and Systems Engineering – SeaTech, Florida Atlantic University, 101 North Beach Road, FL 33004, Dania Beach, Florida, USA

    Manhar R. Dhanak

  2. School of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, LA 70148, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

    Nikolaos I. Xiros

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Melchers, R.E. (2016). Principles of Marine Corrosion. In: Dhanak, M.R., Xiros, N.I. (eds) Springer Handbook of Ocean Engineering. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16649-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16649-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16648-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16649-0

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