Corrosion and Cathodic Protection at Disbonded Coatings

The effectiveness of cathodic protection to control corrosion and the resulting corrosion rate of pipelines arc determined by the chemical and electrochemical conditions at local areas along the pipeline. The disbonding of coatings and tapes is also controlled to a large extent by the chemical and electrochemical conditions. Processes that occur on the metal surface and their effect on corrosion and cathodic protection are discussed with respect to real pipeline conditions. Disbonded coatings on steel can interfere with the current distribution from cathodic protection. Shielding the current under disbonded coatings can affect the level of protection, the corrosion behavior and the disbonding of coatings. A major thrust in our laboratories has been the use of laboratory measurements and computational models to determine the changes in the corrosive environment that occur beneath disbonded coatings as a function of applied potential, disbonded area geometry, prior corrosion products and wet/dry cycles. These results are summarized here.