General guidelines for corrosion testing of materials for marine applications: Literature review on sea water as test environment

Abstract

This literature review is intended to give some general guidelines on corrosion testing of metals and alloys for marine applications, in particular with regard to the choice of the test environment. The general chemical properties of sea water are discussed and compared with those of coastal and/or polluted sea water, stored and recirculated sea water, and synthetic solutions which are sometimes used to simulate sea water. After discussing the factors that can affect the corrosion mechanism, the results of test methods are reviewed, highlighting the differences obtained in the various test environments. A short review of the main alloys used in marine applications is given, followed by a discussion of the factors that can lead to differences between results obtained when testing in natural sea water and in simulated test solutions.