European Corrosion Conference

All corrosion science is based on understanding of the electro-chemical reaction that disolves metal and the thermodynamic models that explain the basic physics in which the natural laws are defined.

These basic laws are not opinions or debatable, except by repeated observation that can be witnessed and recorded by experiments or real life occurances.

The situation at present is that the known laws of physics cannot be used diagnostically in cathodic protection as we are not gathering data in a finite manner.

I have spent many years demonstrating this fact to the cathodic protection community and to the Oil and Gas Industry globally.

Cathodic protection is extremely cost effective and is required by law in most countries of the world.  Cathodic protection specialists have established themselves into powerful consulting positions and are trusted by friend in academic circles as well as operating companies.

The scientific and engineering communities however are less sure that cathodic protection is a science but refer to it as something of a mystery or even a black art.

Further down the social scale it is commonly refered to as bullshit and a knowing smile says that it makes money so who cares?

When pipelines fail due to corrosion there is often loss of life, loss of product, disruption to energy supplies and environmental damage followed by massive legal expense and damages on a national scale.

During this process those responsible for corrosion control come up with complex excuses expressed in a way that confuses the scrutineer and the public who quickly give up and address matters that are more easily understood.

It is for this and many other reasons that I set out on the course of action that has led to this paper.

Cathodic protection is the electrical control of the corrosion reaction
and it is therefore necessary to demonstrate this reaction in a way that can be observed and measured in less than four hours, so that delegates can see for themselves that we are in compliance with the demands of scientific practice.

Demonstration 1  shows 3 bright new nails between layers of damp cloth connected to a dry cell battery that might be described as multiple corrosion cells in series.

The charges at the positive pole of the battery equalise with the charges in the first nail that then becomes the anode of this corrosion circuit.

The damp cloth will become charged in this area in relation to the cloth surrounding the far nail that is connected to the negative pole of the dry cell battery.

Electrical potentials equalise out as demanded by the laws of physics and this flow of charges is called current and mesured in amps.

The nail in the middle is a low resistance path for the charges to take  and the point of entry to this nail becomes it's cathode and does not corrode.  The whole of the center nail becomes charged to a single potential resulting in the end closest to the third nail having more charges than the cloth in which it is embedded. The charges pass into the cloth at this end and this area can be seen to corrode as it has become the anode on this centre nail.

It is very important that delegates know that this demonstration can repeatedly show that the basic laws of physics and electro chemistry are presently being missunderstood by most practitioners of cathodic protection.

Using a digital voltmeter bought at any retail stockist in any country in the world it is possible to make measurements to confirm everything stated about demonstration 1.  the probes supplied with the meter can be contacted with the battery, the nails and the cloth at any chosen point and I invite delegates to try this for themselves.