Corrosion Control in Military Assets

The combat fields of modern wars, including the struggle against global terrorism, are localized in diverse, harsh regions: tropical, desert, artic, marine, with varied weather conditions, which adversely affect the corrosion performance of the equipment and facilities involved. For the sake of brevity, three groups of military mobile and fixed equipment and structures are dealt with: armored ground wheeled vehicles; naval aluminum vessels, and buildings and facilities for providing dwellings, weapons storage and services to the armed forces. They are usually made from carbon steel, aluminum alloys and reinforced concrete, because of their useful properties: high strength, easy availability and low cost. However, due to their limited corrosion resistance they should be protected by coatings (including military coatings), but primarily paint; cathodic protection and corrosion inhibitors. All these systems suffer from several types of localized corrosion and degradation: galvanic, pitting, intergranular, dealloying, cavitation, erosion, stress cracking, UV effects in plastics and organic coatings. The military assets require the implementation of corrosion control methods and techniques through all their stages: design, construction, installation and operation. Typical cases of corrosion will be presented based on the authors experience and knowledge.