DESIGN FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF CORROSION

Abstract

Several estimates have been made of the costs of repairing the ravages of corrosion and of the expenditure on protective measures such as painting, and it is clear that the figure is of the order of £200,000,000 a year for Great Britain alone. While all efforts to save money in this direction must be of great value, the problem is not a simple one. For example, a general use of more corrosion-resistant materials would undoubtedly reduce expenditure attributable to corrosion by a major factor, but the capital costs would be greatly increased, and the charges on capital might be no less than the costs incurred through corrosion of the cheaper material. Similarly, it is quite true that in many cases corrosion is more severe than it might be owing to poor design; here again avoidance of design features which increase the liability to corrosion cannot always be ensured without incurring some expense. A principal factor in “design from the standpoint of corrosion” is, therefore, a consideration of the economic factors involved, i.e. the balancing of first cost against maintenance charges during the lifetime of the article.