Ships, cathodic protection

For large steel structures such as pipelines, storage tanks, bridges, and ships, cathodic protection is the best defense against premature rusting. 

V.G. DeGiorgi, A review of computational analyses of ship cathodic protection systems, in Boundary Elements XIX, Computational Mechanics Publications, South Hampton, 1997, pp. 829-838. 

Titanium has potential use in desalination plants for converting sea water into fresh water. The metal has excellent resistance to sea water and is used for propeller shafts, rigging, and other parts of ships exposed to salt water. A titanium anode coated with platinum has been used to provide cathodic protection from corrosion by salt water. 

Cathodic Protection This electrochemical method of corrosion control has found wide application in the protection of carbon steel underground structures such as pipe lines and tanks from external soil corrosion. It is also widely used in water systems to protect ship hulls, offshore structures, and water-storage tanks. 

Slides Covering pipelines with polymeric films cathodic protection of pipelines, ships, etc.. With zinc bracelets use of inert polymers in chemical plant galvanic corrosion in architecture (e.g. A1 window frames held with Cu bolts) weld decay. 

It is not certain whether Sir Humphrey Davy (Fig. 1-7) knew of these considerations. He accepted a commission from the Admiralty for the protection of copper-clad wooden ships, which had been introduced in 1761. During his numerous laboratory experiments, he discovered the cathodic protection of copper by zinc or iron [3]. Davy had already put forward the hypothesis in 1812 that chemical and electrical changes are identical or at least arise from the same material property. He believed that chemical reaction forces could be reduced or increased by altering the electric state of the material. Materials can combine only if they have different electric charges. If an originally positive material can be artificially negatively... 

Fig. 1-8 Constructional drawing of the Sammarang, which was the first ship to make a sea voyage to Nova Scotia from March 1824 to January 1825 with cathodic protection of the copper sheathing.

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... 

F. Jensen, Cathodic protection of ships, Proc. 7th Scand. Corr. Congr., Trondheim, 1975. 

Lloyds Register of Shipping, Guidance Notes on Application of Cathodic Protection, London 1966. 

The protection of aluminum ships demands particular attention since electrical contact with steel and copper materials can seldom be avoided and a whole range of aluminum alloys are unsuitable for cathodic protection (see Section 2.4 and Fig. 2-11). Later protective measures must therefore be observed during the construction stage since even good coatings in combination with cathodic protection are frequently not adequate to protect gaps or openings. 

In contrast to thick coatings, thin coatings combined with cathodic protection present certain risks on ships. Blisters filled with highly alkaline liquids resulting... 

Cathodic protection of an uncoated ship is practically not possible or is uneconomic due to the protection current requirement and current distribution. In addition, there must be an electrically insulating layer between the steel wall and the antifouling coating in order to stifle the electrochemical reduction of toxic metal compounds. Products of cathodic electrolysis cannot prevent marine growths. On the contrary, in free corrosion, growths on inert copper can occur if cathodic protection is applied [23]. 

Ships with nonmetallic hulls frequently have metallic attachments which can be cathodically protected. Here the anodes are screwed onto the timber or plastic hull and electrically connected with low resistance via the interior of the ship to the objects to be protected. The metallic foundation serves for flotation and copper bands. 

The horizontal surfaces should be coated because there is residual water in the ballast and there are water-oil mixtures in the crude oil tanks when ships travel empty and these can cause severe corrosion attack. In the lower part of the tank, up to about 1.5 m from the base, a combination of coating and cathodic protection with special anodes is chosen. Basically the anodes could take over the exclusive protection in this area, but with empty ballast tanks containing residual water or empty crude oil tanks with aggressive oil-water mixtures containing sulfur compounds, they do not prevent corrosion. 

Internal cathodic protection of water tanks and boilers is most economical if it is taken care of at the design stage. It can, however, be installed at a later stage as a rehabilitation measure to halt the progress of corrosion. Tanks and boilers in ships were described in Section 17.4. Further applications of internal protection are dealt with in Chapter 21. 

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