Remote Sensing of Crevice Corrosion

Crevice corrosion is a form of localized corrosion that occurs within crevices or at sheiled surfaces where stagnant solution is present. Crevices corrosion is particularly problematic for the Navy in networks of seawater piping where the numerous gasketed junctions are susceptible to crevice corrosion. Since the crevice corrosion is almost always confined to within the crevice itself, the pipe joints must be periodically disassembled and visually inspected for evidence of crevice corrosion. This process is time consuming, tedious, and expensive. Based on the mechanistic aspects of crevice corrosion, we will investigate three novel remote sensing concepts for crevice corrosion. These concepts are applicable to pipes of varying sizes and are capable of being developed into a remote diagnostic procedure for crevice corrosion. Such a procedure is adaptible to portable instrumentation for the detection of crevice corrosion within an assembled gasketed pipe joint. This instrumentation will eliminate the requirement for disassemble and visual inspection of pipe joints and will be of great benefit to the Navy.