Welcome to the early September 2020 Corrosionpedia News Roundup. Corrosionpedia releases a fresh News Roundup every other week to provide a summary of the most important headlines in the world of corrosion prevention, monitoring and science. This week, we take a look at new funding from the US Department of Energy to advance scientific corrosion studies. Also highlighted are stories about an old, corroded Viking helmet, troubles for an Indian pipeline owning company, success for an Indian steelmaker, and an exciting new corrosion study to be performed by NACE.
United States DOE Funds Corrosion Science Initiatives
The United States Department of Energy recently awarded $33 million to various universities and laboratories for a major pipeline-related program. The program, known as the Rapid Encapsulation of Pipelines Avoiding Intensive Replacement (REPAIR) Program, is dedicated to preventing unnecessary replacement of existing pipelines through the use of technology. Two of the projects being funded deal directly with corrosion. The University of Maryland was awarded $1 million for their development of a pipe-in-pipe coating solution. The University of Pittsburgh also received $1 million to develop embedded technologies to be installed in existing pipelines. These technologies are intended to improve corrosion protection.
Origin Date Determined for Corroded Viking Helmet
The Yarm helmet, a famous metal viking helmet found in the 1950’s in England, has finally had its date of manufacture determined. Studies carried out on the corroded metal of the Yarm helmet revealed that it is from the 10th century AD. Over the course of the next 10 centuries, the helmet underwent substantial corrosion, but what is amazing is that it didn’t completely corrode into a pile of metallic dust during that great length of time. Researchers suspect that special waterlogged conditions allowed the helmet to survive the centuries, and only one other fairly complete helmet has been discovered. Following its unearthing, it has been safely stored in some capacity or another. During the recent studies to determine its age, all experiments were carried out in dry conditions to prevent further corrosion.
Corrosion Causes Trouble for Indian Pipeline Owning Company
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) was recently told by the National Green Tribunal that the actions it performed to address oil leaks in some of its pipelines were insufficient. The Tribunal is a government organization dedicated to handling environmental issues. ONGC has experienced several pipeline spills over the past couple of years. In addition to saying that ONGC's plans were inadequate, the National Green Tribunal also advised the company on how to improve their plan, focusing on corrosion. They suggested increasing the frequency of periodic pipeline corrosion inspections, and also mentioned that all underground pipelines require some form of external corrosion protection.
Stainless Steel Alloy Added to Major Indian Steel Company Product Portfolio
The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), the largest producer of steel in India, has recently developed a new stainless steel alloy. The alloy, designated S32205, is a super duplex stainless steel that previously was usually imported into India. Super duplex stainless steels, such as the S32205 alloy, have both ferrite and austenite in their crystalline structure, which enable excellent mechanical properties and improved resistance to pitting corrosion and crevice corrosion compared to austenitic stainless steels. S32205 does particularly well in chemical processing applications, among others. The ability of SAIL to produce this alloy reduces its dependence on foreign countries to supply India’s high-end stainless steel needs.
Naval Scientist Awarded for Work to Prevent Corrosion
Timothy Bole, a United States Navy physicist, recently received the Dr. Delores M. Etter Top Scientists and Engineers of the Year Award in recognition of his scientific contributions to develop a way to control electric signatures of marine vessels and structures. Controlling electric signatures is critical for reducing the impact of corrosion on the materials that these structures and vessels are made of. One unique aspect of his work is that it is not based on traditional methods to control these types of electric signatures. The method he developed requires fewer components, thereby reducing the complexity of the system compared to traditional impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) systems. The Etter Top Scientists and Engineers Award is given to Navy and Marine Corps technical leaders for outstanding contributions.
New NACE Corrosion Study Begins
The National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) has recently begun a new study measuring the impact of corrosion across six industries in Canada. The study is one of a series of studies called the International Measures of Prevention Application and Economics of Corrosion Technologies (IMPACT). Other IMPACT studies have already been successfully completed in regions such as the Middle East, Europe and the United States, and are meant to provide government officials, industry experts, regulators and the general public with data about how corrosion control can change costs in the industries examined. For Canada, NACE will take a look at the impact of corrosion in the energy, manufacturing, marine, mining, municipal and transportation industries.