Corrosion failures account for the degradation of infrastructure causing billions of dollars in repairs annually. These failures more importantly cause health and safety issues which have led to the loss of human life. This has recently been brought to the attention of the broader public and congress in the Corrosion Prevention Act March 2007 and the Bridge Life extension act March 2009. As corrosion engineers have often stressed stricter procedures on when what and who should be assessing corrosion behaviour can curb these significant losses and monetary costs. The following paper addressed preventative maintenance and testing proper specification of the required tests based on a multitude of factors and the importance of accurate interpretation of this data by qualified professionals.

Engineers are called in to test for corrosion behaviour once a structure has exhibited corrosion related damages. At this stage of the structure’s life the costs of repairs have increased exponentially over taking a preventative approach. This leads to significant costs to the owners for the repair alone without dealing with the root cause.

By testing and analyzing corrosion in the early stages of a structure’s life preventative corrosion mitigation can be implemented to avoid the unnecessary cost of repairs and failures. Unfortunately due to budgets and the preconceived notion that “if corrosion is not visible then there is not problem” corrosion testing is generally not incorporated into maintenance budgets. It is imperative that this preconceived notion of visibility be changed and that testing be carried out in the earlier stages of a structure’s life.

When a structure is being evaluated for corrosion there are many methods to test various conditions that can determine corrosion behaviour as well as conditions that accelerate the corrosion activity. Test procedures are also dependent on various materials microclimates and external temperatures and environmental factors. The team specifying the testing must understand all the relevant factors that are at play on a structure prior to determining what to test.

It is commonly known that standard test procedures such as ASTM C876 can provide some information regarding corrosion risk but not a true evaluation of the structures behaviour. Accurate information can be gained through testing but it is the interpretation and integration of this data that needs to be formulated by an experienced engineer or professional. Recent graduates technicians and inexperienced personnel may not have the true understanding and knowledge of corrosion behaviour to determine the actual conditions and factors at play. It has often been found that what one test company may assess and interpret is far different than what the experienced corrosion engineer would interpret from the same data.

The key to avoiding the loss of materials and more importantly the loss of human life is to approach corrosion in a preventative manner and ensure that testing for corrosion is carried out and interpreted correctly.