Cathodic protection anode material

Table 10.23 Comparison of typical properties of cathodic protection anode materials...

Magnetite (FejOJ has been in use since the 1970s as a cathodic protection anode, although its use as anode material has been known for some time . 

Cathodic protection anode A cathodic protection anode for steel in concrete can be a conductive paint or other conductive material that will adhere to concrete, or a metal mesh or other conductive material that can be embedded in a concrete overlay on the surface of the structure to be protected. Anodes may be impressed current or sacrificial. 

It is very rare that a single inhibitor is used in systems such as cooling water systems. More often, a combination of inhibitors (anodic and cathodic) is used to obtain better corrosion protection properties. The blends which are produced by mbdng of multi-inhibitors are called synergistic blends. Examples include chromate-phosphates, polyphosphate-silicate, zinc-tannins, zinc-phosphates. Phosphonates have been used to cathodically protect ferrous materials. Following are the major applications of synergistic blends of inhibitors. 

Cathodic protection using sacrificial anodes or applied current can retard or eliminate tuberculation. However, costs can be high and technical installation can be very difficult. Costs are markedly reduced if surfaces are coated (see Material substitution below). 

It is little known that Thomas Alva Edison tried to achieve cathodic protection of ships with impressed current in 1890 however, the sources of current and anodic materials available to him were inadequate. In 1902, K. Cohen achieved practical cathodic protection using impressed direct current. The manager of urban works at... 

The cathodic protection of plain carbon and low-alloy steels can be achieved with galvanic anodes of zinc, aluminum or magnesium. For materials with relatively more positive protection potentials (e.g., stainless steels, copper, nickel or tin alloys), galvanic anodes of iron or of activated lead can be used. 

As in the case of corrosion at the insulating connection due to different potentials caused by cathodic protection of the pipeline, there is a danger if the insulating connection is fitted between two sections of a pipeline with different materials, e.g., mild and stainless steel. The difference between the external pipe/soil potential is changed by cell currents so that the difference between the internal pipe/ medium potential has the same value, i.e., both potential differences become equal. If the latter is lower than the former for the case of free corrosion, the part of the pipe with the material that has the more positive rest potential in the soil is polarized anodically on the inner surface. The danger increases with external cathodic protection in the part of the pipeline made of mild steel. 

Aluminum-sheathed cables should not be connected to other cables because aluminum has the most negative rest potential of all applicable cable sheathing materials. Every defect in the protective sheath is therefore anodically endangered (see Fig. 2-5). The very high surface ratio SJS leads to rapid destruction of the aluminum sheathing according to Eq. (2-44). Aluminum can also suffer cathodic corrosion (see Fig. 2-11). The cathodic protection of aluminum is therefore a problem. Care must be taken that the protection criterion of Eq. (2-48) with the data in Section 2.4 is fulfilled (see also Table 13-1). Aluminum-sheathed cables are used only in exceptional cases. They should not be laid in stray current areas or in soils with a high concentration of salt. 

Production platforms are coated only in exceptional cases or for the purposes of investigation because the life of the structure is greater than the life of the coating. Therefore in the design of the cathodic protection, only the protection potential Us of the steel need be considered. Steels with an ultimate tensile strength of up to 350 N mm are used for these structures, which are weldable even in thick sections, and the hardness of the welded material can be kept to 350 HV (see Section 2.3.4 [2,10]). Aluminum anodes with the same protection effect and life as zinc anodes have much less weight. This is a very important advantage for... 

Cathodic protection of reinforcing steel with impressed current is a relatively new protection method. It was used experimentally at the end of the 1950s [21,22] for renovating steel-reinforced concrete structures damaged by corrosion, but not pursued further because of a lack of suitable anode materials so that driving voltages of 15 to 200 V had to be applied. Also, from previous experience [23-26], loss of adhesion between the steel and concrete due to cathodic alkalinity [see Eqs. (2-17) and (2-19)] was feared, which discouraged further technical development. 

The electrolysis protection process using impressed current aluminum anodes allows uncoated and hot-dipped galvanized ferrous materials in domestic installations to be protected from corrosion. If impressed current aluminum anodes are installed in water tanks, the pipework is protected by the formation of a film without affecting the potability of the water. With domestic galvanized steel pipes, a marked retardation of the cathodic partial reaction occurs [15]. Electrolytic treatment alters the electrolytic characteristics of the water, as well as internal cathodic protection of the tank and its inserts (e.g., heating elements). The pipe protection relies on colloidal chemical processes and is applied only to new installations and not to old ones already attacked by corrosion. 

Cathodic protection by means of impressed current is very adaptable and economic because of the long durability of anodes and the large number of anode materials and shapes. Some examples are described here. Internal cathodic protection of fuel oil tanks has already been dealt with in Section 11.7. The internal protection of water tanks is described in detail in Chapter 20. 

Three types of anodic protection can be distinguished (1) impressed current, (2) formation of local cathodes on the material surface and (3) application of passivating inhibitors. For impressed current methods, the protection potential ranges must be determined by experiment (see information in Section 2.3). Anodic protection with impressed current has many applications. It fails if there is restricted current access (e.g., in wet gas spaces) with a lack of electrolyte and/or in the... 

The use of corrosion-resistant materials and the application of corrosion protection measures are in many cases the reason that industrial plants and structures can be built at all. This is particularly so in pipeline technology. Without cathodic protection and without suitable coating as a precondition for the efficiency of cathodic protection, long-distance transport of oil and gas under high pressures would not be possible. Furthermore, anodic protection was the only protective measure to make possible the safe operation of alkali solution evaporators (see Section 21.5). 

Information on the costs of cathodic and anodic internal protection of tanks varies very widely since the costs depend not only on the material costs but also on the special installation costs and these in turn depend on the internal geometric layout of the tank and its pipework. 

Insulating units are installed in pipelines to limit cathodic protection or to separate different materials in a mixed installation. If the pipelines are transporting electrolytes, anodic interference can occur on the pipe interior if a dc voltage, Af/, exists at the insulator of length, L. The current flowing through the insulating unit by anodic polarization of the internal wall of the pipe comes to ... 

At present cathodic protection is only generally applied for materials in contact with natural waters and soil, but future applications are envisaged for industrial plants and containers. For this reason we have included a chapter on anodic... 

As is well known, high-purity zinc corrodes much less rapidly in dilute acids than commercial purity material in the latter instance, impurities (particularly copper and iron) are exposed on the surface of the zinc to give local cathodes with low hydrogen overpotentials this result is of practical significance only in the use of zinc for sacrificial anodes in cathodic protection or for anodes in dry cells. In neutral environments, where the cathodic... 

It follows from the above that, for an anode material to offer sacrificial protection, it must have an open-circuit potential that is more negative than that of the structure itself (the cathode). The extent of protection experienced by the cathode will depend on the potential it achieves. This is dependent on the electrochemical properties of the anode which in turn are governed by its composition and the environment to which it is exposed. 

The anode material must provide a driving voltage sufficiently large to drive adequate current to enable effective cathodic polarisation of the structure. This requirement implies that the anode must have an operating potential that is more negative than the structure material to be protected. 

Whilst cathodic protection can be used to protect most metals from aqueous corrosion, it is most commonly applied to carbon steel in natural environments (waters, soils and sands). In a cathodic protection system the sacrificial anode must be more electronegative than the structure. There is, therefore, a limited range of suitable materials available to protect carbon steel. The range is further restricted by the fact that the most electronegative metals (Li, Na and K) corrode extremely rapidly in aqueous environments. Thus, only magnesium, aluminium and zinc are viable possibilities. These metals form the basis of the three generic types of sacrificial anode. 

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