ADVANCED CHEMISTRY WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT

CORROSIVITY IN THE DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION

SECTOR

Arranged by : Faisal Brahmanstya Azis (1506710191)

Faculty/Major : Civil Engineering / KKI
Date

: 12th April, 2016

Lecturer

: - Ir. Firdaus Ali, M.Sc., Ph.D.

- Dr. Cindy Priadi, S.T., M.Sc.
- Rina Resnawati S.T., M.Eng.

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

ENGINEERING FACULTY
UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA
DEPOK
2016

A. INTRODUCTION
This paper is submitted to fulfill the weekly assignment given by the lecturer. In this paper,
will be consisting the explanation and summarization of the corrosivity in the domestic and
international construction sector. The paper will try to explain and suggest some solution for
corresponding problems, which is;
1. Factors that cause corrosive in construction materials
2. The potential economy loss caused by corrosivity
3. The alternative solutions for corrosivity in construction sector
By some of these problems, this paper will try to effectively comprehend corrosivity in
domestic and international construction sector. Also, this paper will try to summarize the
explanations and suggestions that will solve these problems in an effective way.
B. MAIN DISCUSSION
In this weekly assignment, we are assigned by Mr. Firdaus Ali, our lecturer, to write some
things that related to corrosivity in the domestic and international construction sector. Corrosion
is one of many problems that existed in construction world. The corrosion can affect many
aspects on the construction process, such as the corrosion on materials that will lower the quality
of the material itself, that may risk the life of the workers, or even the user of the building itself
in the future. According to NASAs Corrosion Technology Laboratory site, Corrosion can be
defined as the degradation of a material due to a reaction with its environment.
Degradation implies deterioration of physical properties of the material. This can be a
weakening of the material due to a loss of cross-sectional area, it can be the shattering of a metal
due to hydrogen embrittlement, or it can be the cracking of a polymer due to sunlight exposure.
By these circumstances, that is very clear that the corrosion is a loss factor to the construction
process, so the engineers in a project is trying to avoid this thing to be happened in the future.
One of the material that very prone to the corrosion is a metal. This phenomenon is very
closely related with the electrochemical process. Metals corrode because we use them in
environments where they are chemically unstable. Only copper and the precious metals (gold,
silver, platinum, etc.) are found in nature in their metallic state. All other metals, to include ironthe metal most commonly used-are processed from minerals or ores into metals which are

inherently unstable in their environments. All other metals are unstable and have a tendency to
revert to their more stable mineral forms. Some metals form protective ceramic films (passive
films) on their surfaces and these prevent, or slow down, their corrosion process.
Corrosion has many forms, there are Uniform Corrosion, Galvanic Corrosion,
Concentration Cell Corrosion, Intergranular Corrosion, Pitting Corrosion, Crevice Corrosion,
Filiform Corrosion, Stress Corrosion Cracking, Corrosion Fatigue, Fretting Corrosion, Erosion
Corrosion, Dealloying, Hydrogen Damage, Corrosion in Concrete, and lastly the Microbial
Corrosion.
I will explain the most simple corrosion form, which commonly happened everywhere,
that is the Uniform Corrosion. Uniform Corrosion also called with General Corrosion. The
surface effect produced by most direct chemical attacks (e.g., as by an acid) is a uniform etching
of the metal. On a polished surface, this type of corrosion is first seen as a general dulling of the
surface and, if allowed to continue, the surface becomes rough and possibly frosted in
appearance. The discoloration or general dulling of metal created by its exposure to elevated
temperatures is not to be considered as uniform etch corrosion. The use of chemical-resistant
protective coatings or more resistant materials will control these problems. While this is the most
common form of corrosion, it is generally of little engineering significance, because structures
will normally become unsightly and attract maintenance long before they become structurally
affected.

The facilities shown in the picuture above show how this corrosion can progress if control measures are not
taken.

Besides acid intervention, there is another phenomenon that closely related to the event of
corrosion, that is the electrochemical presence in the corrosion process. Basically,
electrochemical reaction is caused by an oxidation and reduction process. Metals are elements
that tend to lose electrons when they are involved in chemical reactions, and nonmetals are those
elements that tend to gain electrons. Sometimes these elements form ions, charged elements or
groups of elements. Metallic ions, because they are formed from atoms that have lost electrons,
are positively charged (the nucleus is unchanged). When an atom or ion loses electrons it is said
to have been oxidized. A common oxidation reaction in corrosion is the oxidation of neutral iron
atoms to positively charged iron ions:
Fe Fe +2 +2eThe electrons lost from a metal must go somewhere, and they usually end up on a
nonmetallic atom forming a negatively charged nonmetallic ion. Because the charge of these ions
has become smaller (more negative charges) the ion or atom which has gained the electron(s) is
said to have been reduced.
4H+ + O2 + 4e- 2H2O
Or
2H+ + 2e- H2
While other reduction reactions are possible, the reduction of oxygen is involved in well
over 90% of all corrosion reactions. Thus the amount of oxygen present in an environment, and
its ability to absorb electrons, is an important factor in determining the amount of oxidation, or
corrosion, of metal that occurs. Thus, I will show the diagram of the Electrochemical reactions.

Both metals will go through a similar oxidation reactions;

Cu Cu+2 + 2eAnd
Zn Zn+2 + 2eThe corrosion rate of the copper is limited by the amount of dissolved oxygen in acid. On
the zinc the reduction reaction is:
2H+ +2e- H2
The hydrogen ions are converted to hydrogen gas molecules and can actually be seen
bubbling off from the acid.
If we now connect the two metal samples with a wire and measure the electricity through
the connecting wire, we find that one of the electrodes becomes different in potential than the
other and that the corrosion rate of the copper decreases while the corrosion rate of the zinc
increases. By connecting the two metals, we have made the copper a cathode in an
electrochemical cell, and the zinc has become an anode. The accelerated corrosion of the zinc
may be so much that all of the oxidation of the copper stops and it becomes protected from
corrosion. We call this method of corrosion control cathodic protection.

The reaction at the copper (cathode) becomes:

2H+ +2e- H2

The voltage of the copper shifts to a point where hydrogen ion reduction can occur at the
copper surface. The oxidation (corrosion) of the copper cathode may completely stop due to the
electrical connection to the zinc anode.
The reaction at the zinc (anode) remains the same;
Zn Zn+2 + 2ebut the reaction rate increases due to the fact that the surface area of the clean
(uncorroding) copper surface can now support a reduction reaction at a high rate. Thus,
connecting these two metals virtually stopped the corrosion of the copper and increased the
corrosion rate of the zinc. We say that the zinc cathodically protected the copper from corrosion.
Cathodic protection is a common means of corrosion control.
In order to prevent the corrosion, the company might have to spend some money from the
project funds to prevent corrosion. There are capital costs that may reduce the projects fund
such as replacement of equipment and buildings, excess capacity, and redundant equipment.
Besides the capital costs that needs to be spent on, there is another cost that the company needs
to take a look into, that is the control cost. Control cost includes the maintenance and repair, and
also the corrosion control cost itself.
Not only in capital and control cost, in designing the building also needs to be careful
when choosing materials. Not only the quality has to be perfect, but it also meet the budget
allowance too. So because of these things, there are a design costs that includes the materials of
construction, corrosion allowance, and special processing cost. Beside of all of that, there also an
associated costs, that covers; loss of product, technical support, insurance, and parts and
equipment inventory. These costs is really not small and may make the company pay attention to
these such small things. In 2001, a report says that the cost of corrotion in the U.S. alone was
$276 billion per year. Of this, about $121 billion was spent to control corrosion, leaving the
difference of $155 billion as the net loss to the economy. Utilities, especially drinking water and
sewer systems, suffer the largest economic impact, with motor vehicles and transportation being
a close second.According to R.W. Revie and H.H. Uhlig in 1973, direct losses to the Australian
economy caused by corrosion were in the order of AU$470 million, which was equivalent to

1.5% of the GNP of Australia in 1973. However, there is also indirect loss that caused, but stated
by Revie and Uhlig that the indirect losses were high, but not easily estimated.
By these facts that I already stated, the loss caused by the corrosion is quite high. So, we
actually need the alternative solution that will cut the economical loss caused by corrosion itself.
According to NASAs Corrosion Technology Laboratory site, there are many aspects that can be
implied in corrosion control, The choice of a means of corrosion control depends on economics,
safety requirements, and a number of technical considerations. There are basically many
circumstances that can be considered, such as engineering design, material selection, protective
coatings, inhibitors and other means of environmental alterations, corrosion allowances, and
cathodic protection.
These are the explanation of the engineering design and the material selection.
Engineering design is a complicated process that includes design for purpose, manufacturability,
inspection, and maintenance.

One of the considerations often overlooked in designing

manufactured products is drainage. The corrosion of the automobile side panel above could have
been minimized by providing drainage to allow any water and debris to fall off of the car instead
of collecting and causing corrosion from the far side of the panel. All of the other methods of
corrosion control should be considered in the design process. And then the material selection,
There are many materials that can be used for a structure. There are carbon steel, stainless steel,
alumunium, copper alloys, and titanium. In carbon steel, there are plenty techniques to preserve
it, such as the protective coatings, cathodic protection, and corrosion inhibitors. For the stainless
steel, it is the common alternative to carbon steels. There are many kinds of stainless steels, but
the most common austenitic stainless steels (300-series stainless steels) are based on the general
formula of iron with approximately 18% chromium and 8% nickel. These austenitic stainless
steels are frequently immune to general corrosion, but they may experience pitting and crevice
corrosion and undergo stress corrosion cracking in some environments.

C. REFERENCES
Sastri, Vedula S. 2015. Challenges in Corrosion: Costs, Causes, Consequences,
and Control. Canada. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
http://corrosion.ksc.nasa.gov/corr_fundamentals.htm
http://www.corrosioncost.com/
http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/elchem/ec7.html