The Corrosion of Water Plants

Abstract

The water plants are widely used in building structures. They transport drinking water to the households, they refresh or warm up the rooms where we are living, they provide the water in case of fire along the sprinkler systems. Pipes are usually made of metals. These latter exhibit a critical behaviour in contact with water during an inappropriate service life or material choice. In water pipe plants, often corrosion takes place from the external surface and leads to the formation of craters and perforation. The presence of residual water within the embedding material is occasionally observed after the placing works. Condensation phenomena during the transportation of cold water within the pipe may emphasize the corrosion phenomena. The humidity is often adsorbed by the thermal insulating material of the pipe, enhancing corrosion. Galvanic coupling between different materials still represents a relevant issue. Furthermore, material chemical inhomogeneities, junctions and variable thin Zinc thickness of the coating layers contribute to the degradation. Internal corrosion features are also seen sporadically. In particular, in the presence of periodical Oxygen enrichments. On the other hand, stray- current and electrical earth systems generally do not represent a problem. Keywords: plants, metals, water, durability, corrosion