THE ECONOMICS OF CORROSION PREVENTION

Introduction Corrosion has been described as one of the scourges of civilisation. It would appear to be almost a universal phenomenon occurring in the home, on the roads—particularly in road vehicles—in the factory, on the farm, in vessels at sea, in aircraft in the sky, and in pipelines underground. Corrosion is not confined to metallic materials—although they are the major victims—in that stone, brickwork and concrete are also subject to corrosive attack. In Britain alone the annual cost of corrosion has been calculated to be over £600 million in materials replacement, maintenance costs and lost production; the annual world cost has been estimated as at least £10,000 million.