At Materials Technology our engineers have many years of experience of corrosion investigation. We specialise in corrosion investigation, testing, fault analysis and prevention.

As corrosion is a very broad subject we are only able to give you a summary of the services that we can provide you with in this area. We welcome further discussion of your specific problem.

Our corrosion investigation work involves both on site inspection work to determine the root cause of problems combined with our own laboratory testing facilities. Corrosion problems can often be complex and require a range of disciplines to solve. Our multidisciplinary engineers can provide you with these skills to solve your corrosion problems. Our engineers have worked extensively in the petrochem industry which provides some of the harshest operating conditions and where corrosion protection and failure analysis can be a matter of life or death. Over the years they have also gained considerable experience in other industries including: power generation, pharmaceutical, automotive, marine, defence, electrical, and aerospace.

The first step in any corrosion investigation is to understand the root cause of the failure or problem. This will typically involve inspection work combined with a review of the conditions prior to failure and a review of the materials specifications. Following this samples may be required for more detailed chemical analysis or microscopic work. Once the root cause has been determined we can then provide you with clear and concise remedial actions and assist you with the selection of the correct materials for the application. All of our work is backed by full technical reports and will include full colour photographs.

You don't need to wait for a failure to happen. It's often better to have us review your plant, designs and material selection at the earliest opportunity so that future failures or shutdowns can be prevented. We typically conduct this sort of work for a range of petrochem clients prior to any planned development work.

Some of our recent corrosion investigations have included anchor chain failures, failure of heat exchanger in a major brewery, stress corrosion cracking of brass fire extinguishers, microbial attack of stainless steel pharmaceutical storage tank.

Sulphate reducing bacteria can produce dramatic corrosion in only short time spans. These pictures demonstrate the typical corrosion pits afer only 10 days exposure to new stainless steel.

Corrosion from Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB)

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