Thomas Edison said, “There’s a way to do it better—find it.” Cutting-edge ideas, innovation, and progress are the cornerstones of successfully mitigating corrosion, and Materials Performance magazine invited corrosion control professionals worldwide to nominate the technologies that are on the forefront of the war against corrosion.
From the 44 nominations submitted, the 10 highest-rated innovations, judged by a distinguished panel of corrosion experts, were recognized by NACE President Sandy Williamson at CORROSION 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The hard work and commitment to the development of corrosion mitigation solutions by these award recipients are an important contribution to corrosion control and the protection of vital assets from its damaging effects.
Corrosion Control Category: Coatings and Linings
Recipients: David Curran, James McCarthy, Kamlesh Sheth - PPG Protective and Marine Coatings, East Point, Georgia, United States
Web sites: ppg.com and ppgpmc.com
Until now, single-pack epoxy coatings have been based on epoxy-ester resins, which are not as robust as true amine-cured epoxy coatings, or have been based on epoxy resins and latent hardeners, which require a bake cure and therefore are not practical for most protective and marine coating applications. Amercoat One is a new epoxy coating technology that allows for true epoxy-amine curing in a single-pack product, eliminating certain disadvantages of traditional two-component epoxy technology such as mix-ratio errors, pot life problems, and wasteful packaging, while retaining the performance benefits of a true amine-cured epoxy coating.
Corrosion Control Category: Testing
Recipients: Tariq Rashid, Robert Dahlstrom - Apellix Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Web sites: apellix.com
Working with Fischer Technology Inc., Apellix developed the Smart Bee™, a patented software-controlled drone that takes dry film thickness (DFT) measurements consistent with SSPC-PA2 standards using Fischer’s DUALSCOPE FMP 40C platform. The Smart Bee utilizes specialized software, sensors, and an electronic coating thickness gauge system to collect and record DFT millage thickness measurements. It eliminates the need for scaffolding and cranes, keeping workers safely on the ground, and improves productivity by up to 15 times, all while automatically recording every measurement with the time, date, photo confirmation, and additional project data.
Corrosion Control Category: Materials Design
Recipients: Alan Rose - Corrdesa LLC Newnan, Georgia, United States
Web sites: djinntools.com and corrdesa.com
Corrosion Djinn™ is easy-to-use software available online and as an App for iOS and Android, that helps engineers and designers make sound material choices in design and maintenance by predicting and quantifying galvanic corrosion risk at material interfaces. Galvanic corrosion is the primary corrosion mechanism in multi-material systems such as aircraft, especially Naval aircraft, where 80% of structural failures result from cracks initiated at corrosion pits. Corrosion Djinn™ calculates self-corrosion and galvanic corrosion current/rate using a new curated, consistent electrochemical database of qualified material polarization curves. It can be used with little or no training, and takes only a minute or two (it’s quicker than looking up ΔE in tables, and orders of magnitude faster than making complex finite element calculations). While galvanic tables contain only generic materials, the Corrosion Djinn™ provides data from specific modern alloys, coatings, and surface treatments, and can be readily updated with any specific material or coating that users need. Acknowledgements: Developed with SBIR funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Sea-Based Aviation, Program Officer Bill Nickerson.
Corrosion Control Category: Cathodic Protection
Recipients: Matt Bechberger, Elizabeth Nicholson, Peter Nicholson, Pat Yaremko - Cathodic Technology, Ltd. Bolton, Ontario Canada;
Mengxiong Li - SANO Technologies Corp., Ltd. Beijing, China
Web sites: cath-tech.com
The Cath-Tech CorrReader was designed to electronically capture test station cathodic protection (CP) survey data, which eliminates the need for handwritten field notes and facilitates electronic records keeping practices. The unit has a user-friendly, intuitive interface allowing nontechnical personnel to gather quality CP data. The CorrReader has a fully integrated internal GPS to synchronize with GPS current interrupters, allowing the operator to capture the “on” and instant “off” pipe-to-soil potential readings, along with any AC that may be on the structure, and log the data to memory. The CorrReader also stores date, time, GPS coordinates, altitude, etc., along with operator comments for each and every reading. Charge, programming, and download are all via USB. All data files are in CSV format that can be opened in Excel or readily imported into any pipeline integrity database. Graphs can easily be generated, no special software is required. Regulatory compliance documentation at a corporate level is more robust as the pipeline operator can prove precisely what date and time each reading was recorded.
Corrosion Control Category: Cathodic Protection
Recipients: Jerry Chilibecki, Tony da Costa - Mobiltex Technologies Inc. Calgary, Alberta Canada
Web sites: mobiltex.com
The CorTalk® uDL2 micro data logger is a high-accuracy, two-channel instrument utilized for testing cathodic protection (CP) coupons, test stations, critical bonds, and AC mitigation systems. The device can log the potential and current density effects from varying soil conditions, and the influence from AC transmission lines, telluric events, and stray currents from external sources such as pipeline crossings or electric rail interference. A small physical size (3.5 by 1.6 by 0.72 in) allows the device to easily fit inside most standard CP test stations. An integral current detector with a coupon interruption relay allows direct measurement of coupon AC current and coupon DC protection current. A high impedance reference cell input provides structure-to-cell DC potential, induced AC voltage, and coupon instant-disconnect DC potential measurements. Each measurement channel is lightning and surge protected. Measurement storage capacity of 2,000,000 timestamped readings and an internal rechargeable battery allow the device to capture readings for up to four months. An internal GPS receiver provides an accurate time reference and records the geolocation coordinates of the field test location. A USB connection to a PC provides user configuration control, data uploading, and battery charging. A PC application provides a chart graphical preview of logged data, which can be exported to analytical applications and spreadsheets in a CSV data format.
Corrosion Control Category: Testing
Recipients: Engineered Corrosion Solutions, LLC St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Web sites: ecscorrosion.com
The ECS In-Line Corrosion Detector is designed to provide an early warning indication of internal corrosion activity in fire sprinkler systems. A cross-section of the UL-listed device shows the two key attributes that allow for early detection of corrosion: an externally milled section of the pipe that creates a “thin wall” section and a pressure chamber created by an external sleeve welded over the pipe. The ECS In-Line Corrosion Detector is equipped with a pressure switch to monitor the pressure chamber, so when corrosion penetrates the thin wall section of the detector, the pressure switch detects system pressure and activates. The device is designed to be installed where corrosion is most likely to occur: the air/water interface. The complete surface area detection ensures the device is highly effective in both wet pipe and dry pipe fire sprinkler systems, where the elevation of the air/water interface may vary greatly. The thin wall section of the device will fail before other system piping is damaged to the point of requiring replacement, allowing corrective action to be taken.
Corrosion Control Category: Cathodic Protection
Recipients: John Robert Vinje, Jens Christofer Werenskiold, Harald Osvoll - FORCE Technology Norway AS, Hvalstad, Norway
Web sites: figs.no
The FORCE Technology Field Gradient Sensor (FiGS) is a state-of-the-art, non-contact inspection tool that performs highly accurate measurements of electric currents in seawater. The sensitivity enables the identification of corrosion problems and the characterization of cathodic protection (CP) system status on pipelines and subsea structures, even when buried.
Accurate field gradient data from FiGS, combined with FORCE Technology’s proprietary CP computer SeaCorr software and modelling expertise, provides accurate and confirmed status of a protected structure. Design codes are often overly conservative when calculating the steel current density. By using real values in retrofit CP designs based on FiGS results, cost savings of more than 50% have been demonstrated.
Surveys with FiGS are carried out with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). FiGS is the only tool on the market today that offers non-contact CP inspection suitable for autonomous vehicles. The FiGS technology has proven to provide more efficient, accurate, and quicker inspection, eliminates the use of divers, and eliminates the need for excavation of buried or covered structures, etc. The high-quality mapping of field gradient data offered by FiGS has opened possibilities for predicting the future performance and degradation of a CP system, thereby reducing the frequency of inspections and also pinpointing areas of interest requiring necessary and coordinated intervention (i.e. increased safety, reduced cost, and predicted risk).
Corrosion Control Category: Testing
Recipients: James R. Fajt - Schlumberger, Houston, Texas, United States
Web sites: slb.com
Schlumberger Microbial InstaCheck is a rapid, inexpensive, easy-to-use, portable onsite service for immediate evaluation of system-wide total (aerobic and anaerobic) bacteria population and control. To ensure operational efficiency, safety, and performance, it comprises the Mycometer BACTIQUANT water bacteria enumeration technique, adapted and evaluated extensively for oilfield applications, in combination with Schlumberger Production Technologies’ integrated analytical platform ChemWatcher, powered by AVOCET, to enable informed, real-time bacteria control strategy. Microbial Instacheck measures living bacteria metabolism, calibrated to provide an instantaneous enumeration of bacteria populations, without the requirement to refrigerate analysis media or incubate samples. A full field bacteria survey may be conducted, analyzed, evaluated, and reported within a matter of hours; identifying location of bacteria populations, evaluating effectiveness of current biocide applications, and confirming future bacteria control strategy. Field-proven and approved (deployed in over 500 unique oil and gas applications both on and offshore), Microbial Instacheck delivers high accuracy and is compatible with all production fluids, raw water fracking fluids, and chemicals. In addition, standard or known bacteria populations can be evaluated with each test to further confirm assay accuracy. It removes the guess work out of biocide applications and allows the end user to measure the bacteria populations and monitor the effectiveness of bacteria treatment strategy in real time; efficiently controlling the use of microbiocides based on their effects on the bacteria populations.
Corrosion Control Category: Instrumentation
Recipients: Jeff Demo, Fritz Friedersdorf, James Garrett - Luna Innovations, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
Web sites: devstore.lunainc.com
The Luna Sensor Suite for Aircraft Corrosion Monitoring (LS2A) is a wired or wireless sensor node capable of autonomously monitoring environmental and corrosivity parameters to determine the atmospheric severity of difficult-to-access regions within airframes. The technology uses both commercial off-the-shelf and novel sensor elements to monitor a set of parameters and provide an ISO-9223 classification of the environment’s corrosivity. In addition to providing a high-level environmental severity classification, the nodes maintain all raw sensor data with internal storage for future access and engineering analysis. Data from the sensor nodes can be accessed via RS-485 wired or 802.15.4 wireless interfaces. By tracking environmental severity and corrosion within targeted areas of airframes and identifying daily, seasonal, and operational patterns of exposure, maintainers may reduce total cost of ownership, increase aircraft efficiency, and improve overall fleet reliability.
Corrosion Control Category: Instrumentation
Recipients: Daniel Frydman, Graham Hopper, John Maguire, Anthony Marshall, Michael Sellars, Michael Shanahan, Paul Stansfield - Elcometer Limited, Droylsden, Manchester, United Kingdom
Web sites: elcometer.com
The new, easy-to-use Elcometer 130 Soluble Salt Profiler (SSP) provides fast and accurate measurement of the level and density of soluble salts on steel surfaces. The SSP allows a Bresle equivalent test to be completed in just over two minutes. The multipoint conductivity sensors enable the Elcometer 130 SSP to accurately display salt concentration, show exactly where the contamination lies, and generate full-color salt density maps in two or three dimensions. In addition to soluble salt levels (cleanliness) or conductivity, the SSP carries out a detailed analysis of the test area—providing an accurate salt density profile map and pinpointing areas of high contamination outside user defined limits. The Elcometer 130 SSP has automatic temperature compensation to ensure accuracy in all climatic conditions. Impure water can be offset for accurate and repeatable readings. The SSP wirelessly transmits readings, statistics, and batches via Bluetooth® or a USB cable directly to an inspection application or into ElcoMaster®, Elcometer’s mobile app, for instant report generation at a desk or in the field with a mobile device.
