Biofouling & Corrosion of Steel in Seawater

SMSU Event Center BC

In 1941, an oil tanker named the S.S. Montebello sunk to the bottom of the ocean while still carrying a full load of oil. Concern about all the oil in the sealed compartments being released into the seawater has resulted in efforts to determine how much the compartments have corroded and how much longer they can last. In order to answer these questions without damaging anything, a method has been developed that need only analyze the marine growth on the surface of the ship to determine the corrosion rate. It takes into account four characteristics of the marine growth. These are density, thickness, iron content, and the number of years it has been growing. A previous study analyzed a sample from the same ship as we have and they produced the same corrosion rate of 0.7mpy. This supports the usefulness of this new method as it has produced precise results with the use of different samples and different measurement techniques. The one thing the method lacks is a thorough analysis of porosity which plays a large role in how the marine growth affects the corrosive process.