Anticorrosive Properties of Hot-Dip Galvanized Weathering Steel in Atmospheric Exposure

Hot-dip galvanized steel is one of the most used materials in equipment and metallic structures of the Brazilian electric sector. Although carbon steel is the main substrate in the galvanizing hot-dip process, recently, weathering steel has been used as an alternative material to be galvanized. In the transmission line segment of the Brazilian electric sector, for instance, compact towers made of galvanized weathering steel have been installed to conduct energy through urban sites. It is well known that weathering steel, depending on wet and dry cycles and on the pollutants present in the atmosphere, develops a protective patina made of its corrosion products. The patina is dense and strongly adhered to the substrate, blocking the active surface and, thus, reducing the corrosion rate of the base metal. However, when the weathering steel is galvanized, the substrate surface has a layer of zinc and zinc-iron intermetallic alloys. When the sacrificial layer is consumed by atmospheric corrosion, critical questions remain to be answered regarding the underlying substrate. Will the patina of weathering steel be formed? In what condition? Does the hot-dip galvanizing process modify the weathering steel microstructure? The present work carried out an experimental research to shed light on the anticorrosive behavior of hot-dip galvanized weathering steel, after the zinc layer is corroded. This was done by a controlled pickling process, where the zinc layer was removed simulating its consumption during real corrosion processes. The results, obtained through electrochemical techniques and different accelerated corrosion tests, showed that galvanizing weathering steel is a promising technology to enhance the lifetime of structures used in the Brazilian electric sector.

Effect of Corrosion Inhibitor Used in Surface Treatment on the Anticorrosive Performance of an Epoxy Paint System

The mechanism of corrosion is mainly sustained by an electrochemical process, in which anodic and cathodic reactions take place, keeping their kinetics alive by electrons and ions fluxes. Several specific conditions can accelerate corrosion processes. When studying anticorrosive coatings, one of them is the contamination of metallic surface by soluble salts prior to coating, leading to premature failure of the paint system due to corrosion between the metallic surface and the coating. So the surface preparation step prior to coating is a procedure of great importance to the coating anticorrosive performance. The aim of this step is to clean the surface by removing visible and non-visible contaminants. Usually, wet abrasive blasting methods are the most efficient ones to achieve the latter objective, because they may clean the surface, create a surface roughness and also remove the non-visible contaminants, as they use water as a media. On the other hand, evaporation of water after blasting may create flash rust and to avoid this, it is common to use corrosion inhibitors in the water of wet blasting methods. In this paper, the use of sodium tetraborate (borax) as a corrosion inhibitor in wet abrasive blasting is discussed. Electrochemical measurements and mass loss tests show that a borax content of 1% in a saline solution has the best inhibitory action over carbon steel and zinc surfaces, allowing postponing for the painting step some time. However, residual borax left on the surface generated blistering and corrosion under coating, during accelerated corrosion test in a humidity condensation chamber. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirmed that borax accelerated the permeation of water through the coating, downgrading the anticorrosive performance of the paint system.