Whitepaper: Investigating industrial corrosion with electrochemistry

Best practice to simulate realistic pipe conditions using a Rotating Cylinder Electrode

Electrochemical measurements utilizing a Rotating Cylinder Electrode (RCE) are widely used in industrial corrosion studies when simulation of realistic pipe conditions are necessary in a laboratory environment. This white paper allows further insight into the particularities and parameters, which govern the electrochemical measurements; in particular measurements performed in turbulent flow conditions and show a complete picture of the best practice use of this technique.

To further understand how an RCE experiment can model the corrosion in a pipeline, it also gives an overview of the terms and definitions, which are used to characterize the properties of fluids, and pipes as well as the different mass transport phenomena simulated in such experiments. Typical experiments using the RCE are described in detail and the resulting data is analyzed in detail.

The present White Paper demonstrates that results obtained by using electrochemical methods are more accurate,and the measurements are much faster when compared with the classical corrosion investigation methods (e.g., salt spraychamber methods), leading to both improved efficiency and productivity of any corrosion measurement laboratory.