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Corrosion in the News: April 20, 2020 Roundup

By Corrosionpedia Staff
Published: April 20, 2020
Key Takeaways

This week’s stories highlight virtual classroom training and certification during the COVID-19 pandemic, Amsterdam’s efforts to battle corrosion in some of its residential water pipes, and several developments in the corrosion prevention industry.

Welcome to the late April edition of the Corrosionpedia News Roundup. In this edition we spotlight NACE and how it is creating a virtual classroom environment for a couple of its inspection certification programs to help facilitate certification instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also featured is a summary of Amsterdam’s corrosion battling efforts in some of its residential water pipes to prevent excessive lead contamination. A new corrosion-resistant crash-proof aluminum alloy being developed for additive manufacturing, ship hull corrosion prevention tools that can be installed without a diver, and corrosion prevention plans for grounded aircraft are highlighted as well.

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Virtual Coatings Inspection Program Released During COVID-19 Outbreak

As the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak causes many coating professionals to pause work or work remotely for an uncertain period of time, some professionals are beginning to worry about achieving or renewing key certifications that would make them more valuable to their employers.

In response to this, the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) has created virtual options for its Level 1 and Level 2 Coatings Inspector Program. The virtual program allows individuals to learn from NACE instructors on the material required to become a NACE certified coatings inspector. NACE said that it had been working on more virtual options for some time, but the outbreak of COVID-19 accelerated its plans to release the virtual coatings inspection courses. While the virtual coating inspection courses do cover the majority of the lecture-based requirements to become a coating inspector, hands-on in-person coursework must still be completed at a later date to be fully qualified for the certification.

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Amsterdam Working to Reduce Water Lead Levels

The city of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is working to reduce lead levels in its drinking water. Since it has been found that most of the lead that enters the city's drinking water comes from pipes in or near resident's homes and not the city's main lines, the city is not focusing on replacing any pipes. Rather, it is doing what it can to lessen the ability of the water to cause corrosion in the pipes it runs through. To accomplish this, the city is performing experiments on which types of corrosion inhibitors and water additives work best with the water it has and the types of pipe materials used by the city’s residential population. Pending favorable results, the city will seek additional funding to carry out the project.

Development of a Corrosion-Resistant Coating with Reduced Friction

Researchers at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) have developed a new coating using nanomaterials that provides several unique benefits. One benefit is its low friction coefficient, which it achieves via a traditional nickel and tungsten hybrid coating followed by depositing silicon carbide nanoparticles into the coating. This provides a lubricating effect while at the same time provides excellent wear resistance. In addition to the benefits of lubrication and resistance to abrasion, the coating is also an effective way to reduce corrosion. Corrosion testing demonstrated that this new nickel-tungsten coating with silicon carbide was less susceptible to corrosion than coatings with comparable wear resistance.

New Additive Manufacturing Aluminum Alloy Developed

Researchers and engineers at EDAG, an engineering services firm in the automotive sector, have developed a way to use an aluminum powder alloy in an additive manufacturing process that improves crash-resistant properties over other aluminum alloys used for additive manufacturing.

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Historically, it has been difficult to make automotive aluminum alloy components through additive manufacturing due to a lack of certain mechanical properties such as ductility and toughness. Aluminum is gaining popularity in the automotive sector because of its reduced weight and resistance to corrosion compared to steel. By monitoring multiple aspects of the powder manufacturing process such as powder formulation and post-additive manufacturing heat treatment, the team was able to develop a new alloy to be marketed under the name CustAlloy.

Unmanned Underwater Corrosion Prevention System Successfully Installed

In the United Kingdom region of the North Sea, a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) has recently been outfitted with a corrosion prevention system that requires no diver for installation. The system was developed by EM&I, an oil & gas and energy asset integrity, inspection, and repair and maintenance service provider. The system, named HullGuard, will protect a ship’s hull by using a sacrificial anode that is installed through the ship’s hull. The installation allows the owner of the vessel to reduce the risk of corrosion by means that are much safer than traditional methods that require a diver to perform the installation.

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Cortec Provides Corrosion Inhibition Strategy for Grounded Airplanes

As many airplanes become idle during the outbreak of COVID-19, there is a risk that they may become vulnerable to corrosive processes as they are left unused and unattended. Furthermore, monitoring the idle aircraft can be quite expensive from a labor and equipment standpoint while thoroughly checking them during periodic inspections. Therefore, Cortec, a corrosion protection solutions provider, has come up with a plan to prevent corrosion and reduce the labor costs involved with aircraft inspection. Part of the plan includes covering the exterior aircraft with vapor phase corrosion inhibitors (VpCI) prior to long-term storage. It also includes adding certain types of VpCI additives to fuel in order to prevent corrosion in the aircraft's fuel system components. Additional details about the plan with the specific types of VpCIs that are recommended can be found on Cortec’s website.

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Corrosionpedia Staff

Corrosionpedia aims to provide the first steps in the research journey for asset integrity professionals the world over.

Working with our team of internal writers, contractors and third-party experts, we source world leading educational content on the subject of preserving the long-term integrity of the world's infrastructure and assets. We designed our proprietary platform to fit the needs of the industry, and build the in-demand tools to help connect industry professionals to the solutions and solutions providers they need.

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