Electrochemical measurements and short-term-in-situ exposure testing

This paper reports on an investigation whether data obtained by electrochemical corrosion testing such as open circuit potentials, polarizations and current potential curves correlates with mass loss data obtained from short-term-in-situ exposure testing and whether such electrochemical observations will be useful in some way to help predict the longer term corrosion behaviour in practice. The chief focus of the work is on low alloy steels used for pelagic infrastructures, particularly in warmer seawaters. The field data was obtained at three different sites in Australia using coupons cut from actual infrastructure material. The steel coupons were exposed in submerged conditions in tropical, temperate and cool seawater conditions. The results for the electrochemical testing results obtained using artificial seawater are described and compared with those obtained from field trials.