Cost, of corrosion damage

The cost of corrosion damage can be large. One company in the Southwest spent over a million dollars on paint maintenance costs alone. Robert Mears surmised that... 

In the most recent official assessment of the economic costs of equipment damage arising from corrosion, prepared by the National Commission on Materials Policy (U.S.), il was staled that annual losses in the Uniicd Stales alone are on the order or many billions of dollars. 

While ostensibly there is corrosion damage to other related railroad-owned property, such as bridges and rail yard sttuctures, from exposure to the elements, the railroad systems apparently do not consider it to be a major expense, and therefore do not track the data. No estimate of the cost of corrosion to railroads was possible... 

One American estimate that there is 150 billion worth of corrosion damage on their interstate highway bridges due to deicing and sea salt induced corrosion. In a Transportation Research Board report on the costs of deicing (Transportation Research Board, 1991) the annual cost of bridge deck repairs were estimated to be 50-200 million, with substructures and other components requiring 100 million a year and a further 50-150 million a year on multi-storey car parks. 

The many different types of expenses involved make estimates of the total cost of corrosion difficult and uncertain. There is no doubt, however, that the amounts of money involved are quite elevated. Another important aspect of corrosion concerns safety. Corrosion damage can impair the safe operation of installations or machines and be at the origin of severe accidents and the loss of human life. Furthermore, corrosion is a waste of raw materials and, indirectly, of energy. 

The first application area arises from the fact that many corrosion-prone areas of aircraft are difficult to access and costly to inspect. Typically, these areas are inspected on fixed schedules, regardless of whether corrosion has taken place or not on a particular aircraft. Unnecessary physical inspections could be eliminated and substantial cost savings could be realized if the severity of corrosion damage in inaccessible areas could be determined by corrosion sensors. Several prototype on-board corrosion monitoring systems have already been... 

A recent survey of the cost of corrosion in the United States has estimated that some 5 percent of the total cost is attributable to stray current effects, mostly due to electrified transit systems. This percentage includes the damage to utility structures operated outside the direct activities of the transit authorities. In other parts of the world electrified rail systems can represent the dominant form of rail transportation for passengers and freight. Not surprisingly, major stray current corrosion problems have also been associated with these systems, again with serious economic implications. 

Equipment Materials and Abrasion Resistance. Stainless steel, especially Type 316, is the constmction material of choice and can resist a variety of corrosive conditions and temperatures. Carbon steels are occasionally used. Rusting may, however, cause time-consuming maintenance and can damage mating locating surfaces, which increases the vibration and noise level. Titanium, HasteUoy, or high nickel alloys are used in special instances, at a considerable increase in capital cost. 

The danger of corrosion in well casings is described in Section 18.2. The cost of repairing corrosion damage in well casings is very high. On average it is around... 

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