Corrosion Analysis

It is almost certain that when new corrosion resistant materials are developed, or a new aggressive application is identified for existing materials, failures are going to occur. We live in a very competitive economy. Designers want to use the most cost-effective material that is suitable for the intended application. Unfortunately, in new applications and with new materials there will be limited or no real world experience with the application. Designers must rely on laboratory testing in controlled environments to assess a material’s performance in a given application and then extrapolate or interpolate those test conditions to the real world application. Unfortunately the real world is not as controlled and ideal as the laboratory. Synergies between minor constituents will result in the environment being much more aggressive than originally anticipated, and what might have looked good on paper fails prematurely in service. At times, the cause of these failures may not be the material itself, but instead the fabrication practices.