Corrosion Science Chemistry Research Article | Page 13

The Effects and Economic Impact of Corrosion
Portions of maintenance and repair costs can be attributed to corrosion,
and corrosion specialists are often employed to implement corrosion-
control programs.
Capital costs also are incurred because of corrosion. The useful life of
manufacturing equipment is decreased by corrosion. For an operation
that is expected to run continuously, excess capacity is required to allow
for scheduled downtime and corrosion-related maintenance. In other in-
stances, redundant equipment is installed to enable maintenance on one
unit while processing continues with another unit.
For the end user or consumer, corrosion costs are incurred for pur-
chases of corrosion prevention and control products, maintenance and
repair, and premature replacement.
The original Battelle/NIST study identified ten elements of the cost of
corrosion:
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Replacement of equipment or buildings
Loss of product
Maintenance and repair
Excess capacity
Redundant equipment
Corrosion control
Technical support
Design
Insurance
Parts and equipment inventory
Table 3 lists examples under each of these categories.
Replacement, loss of product, and maintenance and repair are fairly
straightforward. Excess capacity is a corrosion cost if downtime for a
plant scheduled for continuous operation could be reduced were corro-
sion not a factor. This element accounts for extra plant capacity (capital
stock) maintained because of corrosion.
Redundant equipment accounts for additional plant equipment (capi-
tal stock) required because of corrosion. Specific critical components
such as large fans and pumps are backed up by identical items to allow
processing to continue during maintenance for corrosion control.
The costs of corrosion control are straightforward, as are the technical
support (engineering, research and development, and testing) costs as-
sociated with corrosion. Corrosion costs associated with design are not
always as obvious. The last two cost elements, insurance and inventory,
can be significant in specific cases.
In addition to these ten categories, other less quantifiable cost factors,
such as loss of life or loss of goodwill because of corrosion, can have a
major impact. Single, catastrophic failures—for example, a corrosion-
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