Corrosion in a shipboard waste drain system piping resulted in at-sea failures and impacted ships' operations. Metallurgical analyses of pipe sections removed from service identified the failure mechanism to be poultice corrosion enhanced by the presence of sulfides and high flow rates or excessive turbulence. A variety of methods to mitigate the corrosion including water treatment, materials substitution, coatings, and cathodic protection were investigated. Applying coatings to the
inside diameters of the piping runs was most attractive from both logistics and cost standpoints compared to the other corrosion control methods studied. A flexible extension for a standard commercial powder coating gun was developed in order to apply coatings to internal piping surfaces. This extension allows application of heat cured epoxy powder coatings to piping runs up to six feet in length that contain multiple short radius elbows. Implementation of the coating process will result in
significant corrosion reduction and related maintenance cost savings while ensuring operational readiness of the fleet.
Keywords: copper-nickel, piping, corrosion, coatings, corrosion mitigation